Advanced Alternative
by Miss Mario
Summary: Accepting OCs into the story, PM me for more details (SYOC) Accepting chapter ideas, send a PM or review if you have a suggestion. What if Ash had never met May? His whole journey would have new meanings, twists and results. It will be a bumpy ride for Ash, but might he achieve something in the end of it all? Contains OCs. Credit to SuperDaisy for collaborating with me on this fic.
1. Introductions

**My first Pokemon fic. I can only hope this goes well.**

 **Okay, so this is an alternative Pokemon Advanced series. Where May embarks on her own adventure and does not meet Ash (which also means Max does not meet him either). May goes through the events of Omega/Alpha (which mean teams Magma/Aqua will be mentioned but will not appear) while Ash has a completely different experience. This story will not be a reflection of the anime in any way, I may keep some details the same however.**

 **A quick disclaimer, this story does include two OCs as part of the main cast. If that's not your thing, then you know what to do.**

 **Alrighty, that's about it~**

* * *

The ship lightly rocked as the waves pushed it to and fro; the breeze was soft and the fluffy clouds blocked and hint of harsh sunlight. Tranquillity prevailed – every passenger felt relaxed as they approached Hoenn.

Everyone but Ash Ketchum.

The distraught ten-year-old was looking down at his yellow companion, Pikachu. Holding him in a tight embrace, trying hard to hold back tears; Pikachu was very sick.

"It's gonna be alright buddy, It's gonna be fine."

Pikachu opened his eyes and inch, "P…pika…"

Charges of electricity could be seen spiralling around Pikachu's body, out of his control. It was a clear sign he was overcharged and could not handle the amount of charge he was currently holding. Ash could only imagine what Pikachu was going through.

Suddenly, the peace outside of Ash's lobby was disturbed.

"Attention passengers. Unfortunately, we will not be able to dock at Littleroot Town due to a problem outside of our control. As a result of these circumstances, we will instead be docking at Slateport City. Thank you for your patience."

Ash let out a heavy sigh as the intercom cut out.

It felt like a ton of bricks just landed on him full force.

Time was what he did not have.

He looked out the window, curious to what caused the boat turn around. A trio of territorial Wailmer followed the ship with disapproving eyes – they were guarding their area. They would have most likely attacked if the ship had gotten any closer.

Ash turned back around to Pikachu; he was asleep. Relief washed out his thoughts, "Get some rest Pikachu, I promise you will get better soon."

* * *

Thirty excruciating minutes later, the ship finally came to a stop.

"Excuse me!" "Sorry!" "'Pardon!"

Despite Ash's mannerly pardons he shoved through crowds of people as the glared and cursed at him. He leaped out of the ship and ran into Slateport City with one thing on his mind.

"Sir!"

A market person turned as Ash hastily approached him, "Whatcha cravin' kid?" He asked, gesturing to the many fruits on sale.

Ash shook his head, "Sorry, I was wondering if you have a phone, you see I need to contact Prof-"

"No phone here kid! If ya ain't buyin' then scram!"

Disappointed Ash turned to the next store, "Um, excuse me ma'am, I- "

"Can't you see I'm talking to a customer?!" She snapped.

Ash backed off, shocked at the temper the market owners had towards a troubled kid. Within his arms, Pickchu started to violently stir, "PIKA…Pikachuuuu!"

Ash jumped, surprised at the pokemon's outburst, "Pikachu, what's wrong?"

Failing to gather his senses, Pikachu broke out of Ash's grip and began to run around the marketplace in severe confusion, "Pikaaaa!"

"Pikachu, no!" He cried, chasing after him.

Pikachu crashed into many crates as he ran, leaving many market owners red in the face as they shouted after the confused creature. He had no idea where he was going, but he couldn't stop, he felt like death itself was right on his tail. Not far behind him, Ash was sprinting, panting heavily. He nearly tripped over some crates Pikachu had knocked down, but it did not slow him down. As he reached the centre of the market, he saw a flash of beige before crashing into someone.

Landing on his back, Ash let out a groan of pain and rubbed him head.

He pushed himself up to find someone else in his position, a blond girl wearing a beige shirt, covered with badges, and beige shorts. On her head was an explorer's hat which was also beige with a lining of dark brown. He looked down at her shoes – they were the kind of lace boots you would see a zoo keeper wear, and dark brown to compliment the look.

The girl opened her green eyes and picked up her dark green rucksack, glad nothing she purchased had fallen out of it. She then offered a hand to Ash, who accepted.

When he got back to his feet, he was eye to eye with the girl. Worried she would shout at him, he raised a hand to apologise, but she just grinned, "I'd watch your pace around this place. Also, no need to apologise, I've taken harder knocks before." She said with a wink.

Ash returned the smile, "Oh, thanks! I'm really in a hurry though so-"

"How come?"

He was getting tired of interrupted, so he decided to be blunt, "My Pikachu is running loose around here and he is really sick! I have to catch him before it's too late."

She raised her eyebrows, "Oh man, I'll help you! C'mon!" She grabbed his arm and took off.

As the two newly met kids ran around the market, Pikachu was lying on his back near the dock area, gripping the ground in pain. He had turned around when Ash was not looking and was completely lost as delusions cover every corner of his sight. It looked like a storm was about to begin to Pikachu, as the electricity messed with his eyes.

He got back up, crying for assistance to a sheltered area, "Pika, PIKA!"

However, no one payed and attention to the Pokemon, causing him to charge into random people for help.

"Hey, beat it!" Someone growled, as they shoved the Pokemon with their foot.

Pikachu tripped over, letting out a squeal.

That was it.

Many bolts of electricity built up around the Pikachu's body as he tried to release the unwanted charge. A crowd of people formed, gawping at the Pokemon as he became absorbed with electricity, "Pika, Pika, PIKAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Everyone was bewildered as a bolt of electricity shot straight into the sky. Even from a distance, all eyes turned toward the bright display.

Ash stopped in his tracks, yanking the girl back, "Ouch!"

She followed Ash's gaze and saw the electrical phenomenon, "Woah, what is that?"

Ash's eyes widened, "It's Pikachu."

* * *

On a ship nearby, Team Rocket were also on their way to Hoenn. James stretched and leaned on the edge of the balcony, letting the breeze run through his hair, "I hope we're as successful here than any other region we tried to catch the twerp's Pikachu in." He said aloud. Meowth looked up and tutted, "You better hope we do, or the boss will sack us. He's only got so much patience – it'll soon run out!"

Jessie looked down to the talking Pokemon, "If he was going to sack us he would have done it back in Kanto! Obviously, he has a soft spot for us." She claimed with confidence.

Meowth rolled his eyes, catching a sudden ray of light. He whirled his forward and leaned out to get a better look, "Are you two seein' dat?"

Jessie and James looked to where Meowth was pointing. Jessie gasped, "What's with the light show?"

James put his hand on his chin, "Do you suppose it's Pikachu shooting all that charge?"

Meowth grinned, "Only one way to find out!"

* * *

Ash found himself pushing through crowds again, but this time, not say a word of apology. As he entered the dock, the mouse Pokemon had finally given up and panted harshly, still lying flat on the ground. The electricity cut off, and everyone left to continue with their day.

"Pikachu!"

He turned to see Ash approach him, and closed his eyes.

"Pikachu!"

The panicked trainer kneeled down and scooped Pikachu up into his care once again.

"I'm sorry buddy…" He murmered, heaving out a sigh.

Ash stood up, and the girl put a hand on his shoulder, "I know we just met, but no matter what I'll help you get that Pikachu to Professor Birch." She promised with a smile. He nodded his head, "Thank you so much… I'm Ash Ketchum, by the way."

"Sparrow McCann, nice to meet you." She replied, "Let's go, I'll get us a ride!"

They began to run back to the market as a ship pulled up to the dock. Many people left the ship, but more notably, three team members in search for a Pikachu.

"Say, all that electric buzz has worn off…and no Pikachu in sight!" Meowth complained.

Jessie narrowed her eyes at James, "Or maybe _you_ were wrong, per usual!"

Unfazed, James kept his eyes fixated on Ash, Sparrow and Pikachu running further into the market, "No, they just left before we got here." He said, pointing at them.

Jessie and Meowth gasped, "Twerps on the run!" They cried in union. All three ran after Ash.

Within the marketplace, Sparrow lead the way with Ash not far behind her. She made a sharp turn to the nearest fashion stand and surely enough, her sister was there. Sparrow called out to her, "Sis! Hey sis!"

The older girl turned around with a hint of annoyance in her face, "Sparrow, can't you let me shop in peace?"

"No! We need you're moped to get Ash's sick Pikachu to Professor Birch's laboratory!" Her sister explained.

"What? But my moped only carries _two_ people."

Sparrow sat in the driver's seat and Ash sat in the passenger's seat, "I know, bye!" She waved, driving off in her sister's moped.

"HEY! You're in BIG trouble sis, BIG trouble!" The frustrated teen shouter after her.

Ignoring her sister, Sparrow drove out of the market place and down the path leading into a forest. She turned to Ash, "This is a shortcut; I know Hoenn like the back of my hand."

He looked down at Pikachu, "Thanks Sparrow, this means a lot…"

She noticed he looked like he was going to cry, so she quickly changed the subject, "H-hey, it's pretty funny, I was going to go to the laboratory today anyways. You know, to choose my starter."

"That was my plan too, until…"

"Oh, really? What were you thinking on choosing?"

Ash sighed, "I'm…not really sure yet…"

Sparrow focused on the road again, knowing there was no way of brightening Ash's mood. Until Pikachu was cured of his illness, Ash was going to stay miserable. She decided to bump up the speed, determined to get to the laboratory. A rustle in the bushes ahead caught her attention, but she did not pay any heed to it. As she drove, she noticed a flock of Tailow abandon their trees, as well as a pack of Zigzagoon flee from the bushes.

"Hmm, this strange…" Sparrow noted.

Suddenly, a large tree crashed down in the middle of the path, causing Sparrow to slam down on the breaks, "WOAH!"

Pikachu flew out of Ash's grip and over the tree blocking them.

"PIKACHU!" Ash yelled.

Maniacal laughter filled the air, as a large shadow covered Pikachu's lifeless body. Ash and Sparrow looked up in utter shock, as the top of the giant metallic machine in front of them slowly raised, revealing three figures.

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all peoples within our nation."

Sparrow and Ash exchanged looks.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!"

Sparrow jumped, "Is that a talking Meowth!?"

Jessie took offense to the girl's response, "What? Was our motto not good enough for you?" She snapped.

Sparrow turned back to Ash, "Who are those guys?"

Ash gave his usual response, "Bad people who steal other people's Pokemon!"

Meowth chuckled, "And look who just dropped by!"

He grabbed and lever and pushed it forward, activating a metal claw to grab Pikachu and lift him up.

"NO!" Ash cried, running up to the massive tree blocking his way. He attempted to climb over it, but slipped and crashed to the ground, "Ugh…"

Team Rocket laughed at his failure, "With no Pokemon, the twerp doesn't stand a chance!" James beamed.

Moewth nodded in agreement, "Whaddya say, let's charge this baby to the max!"

With a flick of a switch, two plungers latched onto Pikachu's pouches and began to drain the electricity from them.

"PIKAAAAAAAA!"

Team Rocket's machine was gaining tons of power from Pikachu's excess electricity; they watched as the power tank progresses with wide grins. Ash continued to climb over the tree, but to no avail, "The-the bark of t-this t-to smooth!" He stuttered, falling to the ground again.

Sparrow frowned, but quickly realised something, "Ash, look!"

He looked up to see Team Rocket's machine going haywire. Meowth was panicking, "Da machine is taking in too much power!" He screeched.

Pikachu suddenly felt lighter; the plungers were not taking any more charge from his pouches. In an ironic twist, Team Rocket had cured Pikachu. He cracked a smile, and went for a relieving thunderbolt, "PikaCHUUUUUUUUUU!"

The machine was absorbed with electricity and Team Rocket with it.

"I felt the shock of a thousand bolts again!" James squealed.

"It's light's out for us!" Jessie added.

A large explosion occurred, and Team Rocket began to fly away into the distance, "Looks like Team Rockets blasting off agaaaain!" They cried in union.

A sparkle of light in the sky signalled their disappearance.

At last, Pikachu was free from sickness, and he landed into Ash's arm, "Pika!"

Ash hugged him, "Awh Pikachu, I knew you'd be okay!"

Sparrow approached them, glad that they were reunited as trainer and Pokemon, "That was pretty crazy, huh?"

Remembering he had not properly introduced himself, Ash spun around and stretched a hand out, "Thanks Sparrow, I couldn't have gotten Pikachu better without you!"

She shook his hand, "No problem – happy to help!"

The three turned their attention back to the massive tree blocking the way.

"What are we going to do about that?" Ash wondered.

Pikachu pointed to himself and leaped out of Ash's arms. Before they knew it, Pikachu speed up using quick attack and bounced onto top of the tree, rolling it further down the path. Sparrow saw what Pikachu was getting at and started the moped up, "Come on Ash, let's follow him!"

Once Ash seated himself, Sparrow drove after Pikachu as he cleared the path. Eventually, they reached an intersection to where the tree was no longer blocking the straight path. Sparrow made the turn, "Hop on Pikachu!" She said. The mouse Pokemon jumped onto Ash's shoulder, "Pikachu."

"Good to have you back buddy." Ash responded.

* * *

About an hour of driving later, Ash, Sparrow and Pikachu had made it to Professor Birch's laboratory.

"We're here!" Sparrow proclaimed brightly.

The moped was left parked where May's bicycle had been not so long ago. Ash and Sparrow knocked on the door and were met with an immediate response, "Oh, hello." The professor greeted, "I was not expecting more company so soon."

Sparrow giggled, "Well it we had a rough time getting here, so I hope we're welcome."

Birch nodded, "Why of course! I have just enough starters left for you two."

They both entered, looking around. For a laboratory, the interior was quite humble and cosy. The professor's work area was quite unorganised, yet coordinated; many pictures of Pokemon hung from different parts of the room, with many ink annotations scribbled onto them. Ash's eyes rested on the table in the centre of the room – there were two pokeballs set on it.

"Are they the starters Professor?" Ash questioned.

"Indeed they are, allow me to introduce them to you."

Professor Birch picked the two pokeballs up and a flash of red light escaped out of them, forming into two Hoenn starter Pokemon – Treecko and Mudkip.

"Wow!"

Birch put the pokeballs back, "This is Mudkip and Treecko, which one catches your eye?"

Sparrow eyed the two Pokemon, something popping into her mind, "Wait, isn't there meant to be a Torchic too?"

"Well there was, but a young trainer by the name of May chose that certain Torchic to be hers; I'm sorry if this comes as a disappointment to you."

Sparrow did not seem fazed, "No, that's okay. I've already made my choice." She said, patting the Treecko's head.

"Treecko, tree!" It celebrated.

"Treecko seems to take a liking to you! Make sure to treat him well."

Sparrow lifted him up, "I will!"

Ash looked down to the last Pokemon on offer, the Mudkip. It stared back at him with beady eyes, "Kip..?"

"Hey there Mudkip!" Ash greeted, kneeling down.

The Mudkip gave him a sideway glance, slightly confused, "Mudkip?"

The Professor spoke up, "This is Mudkip, she's a water type."

"Cool, a water type!"

"Pika pika!"

Mudkip walked up and nudged Ash's knee, "Mudkip, mud mudkip."

Birch smiled, "I think Mudkip wants to tag along with you Ash!"

He stood up, nodding, "Then it's settled! I choose Mudkip!"

Ash took the Mudkip's pokéball and returned the Mudkip. Sparrow was still playing with Treecko; he popped out from underneath her hat, "Treecko!"

"Haha, Treecko's the best!" Sparrow cheered, "I don't really want to return him to his pokeball yet!"

Ash immediately responded, "You don't have to. I always keep Pikachu on my shoulder!"

"Pika!"

Treecko climbed on top of Sparrow's hat and sat casually, "Tree, Treecko!"

Laughing again, Sparrow put Treeko's pokéball in her rucksack and joined Ash's side, "Well, I'd say we're all set!" She told him, "Thanks for everything Professor Birch!"

"You kids stay safe!"

Sparrow flung the door open and took a big breath of air, "This is it! We're about to start our very own journey!"

Ash perked up, "You want to join me?"

"Sure, why not? What's your goal?"

Ash clenched a fist in confidence, "I want to become a Pokemon Master – battle every gym until I reach the very top!"

"Awesome! I want to battle a bit too, but my main goal is to study the lives of wild Pokemon and how they act outside of human influence!"

Her answer came to a surprise to Ash, "That sounds really exciting!"

"It is! And now I have Treecko to help me out!"

"Treecko!"

Sparrow smiled, "Well what are we waiting for, let's get started!"

She ran to the side of the laboratory to collect the moped, but suddenly stopped in her tracks, paralysed in shock. Ash tapped her, "You okay?"

Sparrow quickly hid behind him, exposing her sister in his line of vision. Ash got a better look at her; she had mousey blonde hair, much darker than Sparrow's and grey eyes; she wore a petite pink jacket with red buttons surrounded by two hearts; underneath the jacket she wore a white sweater; she also had a pair of cream jeans on. The older girl turned to see Ash standing there with a poker face. She speed-walked up to him, "Aren't you the kid my sister was with when she stole my moped?"

Ash did not know how to reply, "I…uh…"

"You are. I'm not blind." She said, tapping her glasses.

She caught a glimpse of a Treecko's tail and pushed Ash out of the way, "Sparrow!"

Sparrow flinched, "Heh, hey Babs…Pikachu's all better now."

"I'm getting _sick_ of you running off without permission! I can't keep chasing you around, I'm going to wear my boots out!" Babs complained, pointing at her oddly designed shoes; they were light brown with three pink highlights and a red button on each one – Babs always tried to make a fashion statement.

"Don't you remember what mom said?"

Sparrow crossed her arms, "Stick together, for the better." She mumbled.

"Exactly." Her sister hissed.

"Uh, you guys?"

Babs glared at Ash, "Keep out of this."

Sparrow got up, "Don't talk to him like that! He didn't do anything wrong!"

"Yeah well this is none of his business! Now hurry up and get on the moped, I didn't run all the way here for nothing!"

"No."

Babs sighed sharply and put her arms on her hips, "Are you kidding me right now?"

Sparrow raised an arm in Ash's direction, "I invited Ash to travel with me."

"With y _ou_! Now that I'm here, there's no space left on my moped!"

"Who said we have to take the moped? We can walk-"

"What?! You expect me to WALK?!"

" _GUYS_!"

Sparrow and Babs fell silent, staring at Ash.

"If your sister doesn't want me to tag along with you, then I won't."

Sparrow looked down, "But…I was looking so forward to traveling with you…"

Babs expression softened; she was not prepared to travel with a complete stranger, but her sister meant the world to her. With regret in her voice, she spoke, "Okay…he can join us."

Sparrow's frown turned into a wide grin and she pulled her sister into a hug, as well as Treeko, "Thank you so much sis!"

"Treeko, tree!"

Babs rolled her eyes, "Whatever…"

Ash could not help but feel a special connection between the two sisters. He approached them, tipping his cap, "I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, nice to meet you Babs."

Babs shrugged, "Just don't get in my way, okay?" She warned, before heading into the laboratory.

Confused, Ash looked over to Pikachu, "What's her deal?"

"Pikachuuu..."

Sparrow shook her head, "She can just be so hostile sometimes; don't let her words get to you."

"Alright! I'm sure I can handle her – I'm sure traveling with Misty has helped me toughen up!"

Sparrow raised an eyebrow, "Who's Misty?"

Memories were flooding into Ash's mind; he could tell Sparrow every little detail of his adventures in Kanto. However, with intentions to start fresh, Ash decided to keep his answer simple, "She was a great friend who I used to travel with."

"So you've been on a real journey before?"

Ash gave a nod, "Sure have!"

Sparrow clapped her hands together, "Sweet stuff! It's always better to have experience, so it's a good thing you do! I'm sure you'll put up a challenge for the gym leaders!"

Ash laughed, "Hahaha, thanks!"

The door to the laboratory opened and Babs strolled out with a chain in her hand. She chained her moped to a pole next to it and sighed, "I'll miss you…"

Sparrow ran up to her, "What are you doing, sis?"

"The professor granted me permission to keep the moped here whist we travel, so I can just ring him if we ever need it."

"Nice!"

Babs tutted, "No, not nice. We're going to have to walk everywhere now!"

Ash intervened, "You already had that argument, remember? Let's just get to the nearest Pokemon Centre so we can sign up for the Pokemon Leauge!"

Sparrow enthusiastically agreed, "Yeah! Let's go already!"

From the bushes, Team Rocket were spying on the trio. Despite being blasted off, it did not take them long to locate Ash and Pikachu again. They knew they had to make a recovery after their earlier failure, or Giovanni would be having a word with them.

"So, has anyone got a plan?" James asked.

"I've always got somethin' up my sleeve." Meowth chuckled, "We'll strike just before the twerp gets into Oldale Town."

"Perfect, let's get ahead of them!" Jessie concluded.

* * *

At last, Ash's adventure had come to a start, as he walked through the very first route of Hoenn. The presence of Sparrow gave him an extra boost in confidence; she very full of positivity. He knew they would be great friends. However, he was not sure he felt the same way about Babs. In short, she did not like him, and he could tell, but he had no idea why. She would constantly avoid making eye contact with him as they walked. Sparrow sped up to join him and nudged his shoulder, "Hey, do you see that guy up there?"

Ash saw a flash of yellow and blue quickly approaching them – a young trainer.

"Wanna battle?" He challenged.

Ash looked to Sparrow.

"Show me what you can do, Ash." She requested.

Smiling, Ash turned back to the trainer, "Alright! Let's battle!"

"This is a waste of tiiiiiiime." Babs said under her breath.

Ash took out Mudkip's pokeball, "Pikachu, I want you to rest today."

The mouse Pokemon nodded in understanding.

"So, Mudkip, I choose you!"

The water Pokemon was released from her pokeball and stood directly in front of Ash, "Mudkip!"

The young trainer took out his pokeball and released a Zigzagoon, "Zigzagoon!"

Ash and the trainer had a five second stare down, they were both taking this battle very seriously. Sparrow and Babs were watching from the side-lines, "That kid has a Zigzagoon, how pathetic." Babs whispered to her sister. Sparrow held back a laugh, "Stop being so mean sis." She whispered back.

"Okay Mudkip! You ready?"

"Mudkip!"

"Alright, then use water gun!"

Mudkip took a deep breath and shot a blast of water at the opposing Zigzagoon.

In response, the young trainer gave his Zigzagoon an order, "Dodge it using quick attack!"

The Zigzagoon zigzagged around the water gun with quick speed, then bashed into Mudkip full force.

"Muuuuud!" She cried.

"Crud, are you okay Mudkip?"

Instead of responding to Ash, Mudkip shot daggers at the Zigzagoon, making it feel much less confident.

"It looks like Mudkip is using leer!" Sparrow acknowledged.

"Yeah, but Ash didn't give it the order." Babs added.

Mudkip got back on her feet and began to charge toward the Zigzagoon, "Muuuuuuuuud!"

The trainer began to sweat, "Oh, uh, dodge it Zigzagoon, hurry!"

But it was far too late, as Mudkip gave Zigzagoon a swift blow to the face. Zigzagoon fell back, hurt but not knocked out. Mudkip collected herself and turned to Ash, "Mud! Mudkip!"

Ash knew Mudkip wanted to finish the job, "Okay then, use water gun!"

As told, Mudkip used water gun and hit the fallen Zigzagoon, knocking it out cold.

Sparrow jumped out, "Zigzagoon is unable to battle, Ash wins!"

"YES!" Ash yelled, fist pumping the air, "I won! Way to go Mudkip!"

Mudkip jumped in excitement, "Mudkip!"

The trainer returned his Zigzagoon and shook his head in disappointment; he really thought he could win for once.

"Looks like you win…see you round, I guess." He murmured, walking away.

Sparrow gave Ash a slap on the back, "That was awesome! You're good at this!" She praised.

"Yeah, but I sure hope I didn't upset that trainer back there…"

"Nah, he'll get over it!" Sparrow reassured.

Babs walked ahead of them, looking bothered, "Hurry up, I don't have all day!"

Sparrow and Ash followed.

"I call dibs on the next battle." Sparrow winked, pointing to Treecko.

"Tree, Treecko!"

* * *

 **Okay, so there's the start of it; not that much going on yet. The first chapter is always the most boring to write, but I hope you enjoyed reading it! Leave a review if you want, but don't go any lower than constructive criticism (hint: no flames).**

 **See ya next time!**


	2. Tripping into Oldale Town!

Ash walked with pride; he had just won his first battle.

Sparrow strode alongside him, happy to obtain her very first Pokemon.

Babs slouched, moving at slug's pace.

"Pick up the pace, Babs!" Sparrow called to her, "We want to get to Oldale Town before nightfall!"

Babs stopped, crossing her arms, "Who cares about Oldale Town? Not me – they don't even have a contest hall!"

This came as no surprise to Sparrow, as she knew Babs was only traveling with her to visit other Pokemon Contest Spectaculars around Hoenn. Before, Babs had only designed clothes for participates and their Pokemon; now she not only wanted to make headlines for her fantastic designs, but also wanted to win contests and collect every ribbon in Hoenn.

"A contest hall? What's that?" Ash inquired.

Babs shook her head in disbelief, "Are you really asking me that question?"

Sparrow answered him, "A contest hall is a place where people get to show off their Pokemon. The person who gives the best performance wins a ribbon to keep. We live right next to one, in Lilycove City."

Ash looked up, "So, it's kind of like battling then?"

Irritated, Babs sped up and stopped in front of Ash with her eyes narrowed, "No, you dunce. It's not anything like battling!"

"Geez I'm sorry-"

"Yeah, just promise me you'll never enter a contest."

Sparrow pushed her sister back, "Cut it out! Let Ash do what he wants!"

"Letting _him_ enter a contest would be a crime! I'm only keeping the peace!"

In truth, Ash was a bit offended by Babs' opinion of him; he could not comprehend what she had against him, "Well, what makes you any more suited than me to enter a contest?" He challenged.

Babs snickered, finding his question hilarious, "Look kid, I can give you a thousand reasons why I'm the better option over you, but I'll only give you three. One, I can design my own clothes; in fact, the clothes I'm wearing now were made by yours truly."

An unimpressed look appeared on Ash's face.

"Number two," she continued, "I'm a member of the Pokemon contest fan club and I've watched every contest show to date."

Sparrow chuckled, "Nerd."

"Shut it Sparrow! Ahem, and finally, my Pokemon is better than yours." She quickly concluded.

Her final reason caused Ash to make an intimidating stance, "What do you mean your Pokemon is better than mine?"

"I mean, _my_ Pokemon is better than _yours_!" She slowly repeated.

"Okay then, let's see your Pokemon!" Ash demanded, clenching his fists.

"PIKA!" Pikachu agreed, just as offended as Ash was.

Babs flicked her hair, whipping out a pokeball with a pink heart imprinted on it, "Prepare yourselves!"

She threw the pokeball up and it cracked open, releasing a flash of white. A Delcatty landed gracefully on the ground, ruffling her fur. Almost instantly, Ash pulled out his pokedex to analyse Babs' Pokemon. The pokedex began to speak, "Delcatty, the Prim Pokemon, and the evolved form of Skitty. The favourite of trend-conscious female trainers, they are used in competition for their style and fur."

"That explains a lot." Ash thought.

However, the Delcatty in front of him looked nothing like the Delcatty presented on the screen of his pokedex. Babs' Delcatty had light pink fur instead of purple, and two green bands with red pompoms on each ear to resemble cherries.

"Why does your Delcatty look like that?" Ash questioned.

Babs scoffed, "Her name's Cherry, use it. And that's none of your business!"

"You gave her a name?"

"Yeah, so?"

Ash looked over to Pikachu, "I kept Pikachu's name the same, as well as all my other Pokemon."

"I don't care. My point is Cherry is clearly more presentable than your Pikachu."

Pikachu leaped down from Ash shoulder and got into his battle pose. Ash did the same, "Then let's battle and see!"

Babs took a step back, "Hold on, that's not what I meant! I don't battle!"

Ash stood upright, relaxing his shoulders, "Oh, sorry."

Sparrow had lost all her patience; all she wanted to do was get to Oldale town and her sister would not stop bickering with Ash.

"Can we please just get back on track?" She insisted.

"Yeah, okay!" Ash said, taking the lead again. Sparrow followed him and Babs picked up Cherry, "Okay Cherry, let's get you off that dirty ground."

"Catty!"

The Delcatty did not seem to mind being treated like a Princess, but sometimes she would want to see the world for herself instead of Babs always cradling her around.

The trio were on their way to Oldale town, unaware they were being watched by another trio: Team Rocket.

They had managed to get ahead of them and were ready with a trap set for Pikachu. However, it was quite an average rate trap in Jessie's opinion, "Meowth, I thought you said this trap would be 'ingenious'!"

The Scratch Cat Pokémon laid the last oran berry and snuck back into the bushes with Jessie and James.

"Dig this, once dat Pikachu and Treecko spot these delectable oran berries, they'll come rushing over for a bite and den we'll strike!" He clarified, holding up a butterfly net.

James nodded enthusiastically, "Sounds like a plan!"

Jessie shrugged her shoulders, clearly unconvinced.

As Ash approached, Pikachu caught a glimpse of the oran berries and licked his lips, "Pika pika!"

This caught Ash's attention, "What's up Pikachu?"

Without answering, Pikachu hoped off Ash's shoulder and pranced cheerfully toward the pile of oran berries.

Treecko, on the other hand, stuck out his tongue and shook his head, disapproving the berries. Sparrow took notice and giggled, "I don't think Treecko likes oran berries too much, do you?"

Treecko shook his head more vigorously, "Treecko!"

Pikachu picked up the nearest berry and began to munch on it, completely unaware that he was about to be captured for the second time that day.

"GOTCHA!" Meowth cried, scooping Pikachu into the net, with the top sealing to prevent escape.

"PIKA, PIKA!?"

Ash, Sparrow and Babs all gasped at the same time.

"Prepare for trouble, take two is in motion." Jessie begun.

"And make it double, now we're sure to get a promotion." James followed up.

"An evil as old as the galaxy!"

"Sent here to fulfill our destiny!"

Meowth perked up, "Don't forget meeee!"

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all peoples within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Meowth's da name!"

"Whenever there's peace in the universe, Team Rocket will be there to make everything worse!"

A Pokemon suddenly burst out of his pokeball and cried, "Wobbuffet!" ending the song.

"Team Rocket!" Ash snarled.

"Who else?" Jessie inquired, flicking her sharp, pink hair.

Babs gave her sister a baffled look, "What in Arceus' sake is going on?"

Sparrow narrowed her eyes in Team Rocket's direction, "Those crooks keep trying to steal Pikachu, and something tells me this will be an extremely continuous and annoying occurrence during our travels."

"Then let us take Pikachu off your hands and you won't have to worry about us anymore." Jessie said with a grim grin.

"Not if I can help it!" Ash retorted, sending out Mudkip with a fling of his arm.

"Muuudkip!"

James chuckled, "The twerp's got a new Pokemon." He noted.

"I say we steal dat one too!" Meowth added.

Sparrow joined Ash's side and crossed her arms, "I'm getting in on this too; come on Treecko!"

Treecko jumped down as asked and got into position, next to Mudkip.

"Let's battle fair and square!" Sparrow challenged.

Team Rocket exchanged looks, then and smiled simultaneously.

"Wobbuffet, let's show these twerps who's boss!" Jessie declared.

Meowth bared his claws, with an evil smirk plastered across his face, "I'm gonna get a great workout from these petty starters."

Further back, Babs kept her distance with Cherry. However, to the girl's surprise, the Delcatty she was holding began to wriggle and squirm in an attempt to join Mudkip and Treecko. Babs saw this and held on tighter, "You are _not_ battling against those creeps Cherry – no way, now how!"

"Delcaaaaty!" Cherry whined, still struggling.

"I said no!" Babs snapped.

Ash furrowed his brows and aimed his index finger toward Team Rocket, "Alright Mudkip, use water gun!"

Mudkip inhaled and then shot a trail of water toward Wobbuffet, who did not look too phased.

Jessie's eyes sparked with confidence, allowing the attack to hit her Wobbuffet.

"Now, use mirror coat!" Jessie ordered.

Wobbuffet absorbed the energy of the attack, glimmering in the colours of the rainbow and released a beam of light, making full contact with Mudkip. Mudkip flung back from the impact and landed on the ground, out cold. Ash ran up to Mudkip, "Oh no, Mudkip!"

He received a wicked cackle from Jessie, "Looks like you're losing, twerp!"

Ash gritted his teeth and Sparrow took a step forward, motioning Treecko to follow, "Looks like it's up to Treecko and I!"

James tutted, "A new twerpette to get on our nerves, it seems."

Meowth shook his head, "A tiny annoyance – dat's all. Once we finish off Treecko, we win!" He proclaimed, approaching his opponent.

Sparrow was slightly intimidated, but she had a strong feeling that Treecko would pull through.

"Don't be so sure, I have plenty of battle experience!" Sparrow informed them.

Babs raised an eyebrow, "What? No you haven't." She whispered.

"Well, what do you think I do at the Safari Zone?" Sparrow asked rhetorically.

Babs widened her eyes, only realising the Sparrow was secretly training behind her back. It would have never occurred to her that Sparrow would befriend the Pokemon at the Safari Zone so she could battle there. Although Babs was upset at her sister for going against her, she was relieved that it might pay off, "Okay, but we are having a talk about this later."

Sparrow sighed and turned her head back toward Team Rocket, "Alright Treecko, let's start off with leer!"

Treecko glared at both Meowth and Wobbuffet menacingly. Wobbuffet backed down a bit, clearly threatened by the look. However, Meowth only took two more steps forward, "You don't scare _me_." He snarled.

Sparrow hardened her look, "Okay then, why don't you show us tough guy?"

Meowth looked up in surprise for a second, then returned the hard glare, "You asked for it!"

He began to sprint toward Treecko with his claws out and ready to attack and leaped toward him, "FURY SWIIIIPSE!" He hollered.

"Duck, Treecko!"

Treecko crouched down, avoiding Meowth's swipes of fury as he went over him.

"Use pound, upwards!" Sparrow said.

Treecko pounded Meowth in his stomach, causing him to grunt in pain as he proceeded to fly up and land back down on his feet. Despite receiving a blow to the gut, Meowth was still in battling condition, and curled his lip in spite, "You're going to pay for dat." He threatened.

Suddenly, Cherry leaped out of Babs' arms and filled the gap between Treecko and Meowth. She was facing Meowth and had a concerned look on her face, "Delcatty, del del!"

His heart skipped a beat as he gazed toward the newcomer. Meowth grabbed his chest and took a deep breath, being caught off guard by the stunning Delcatty before him. It could not be helped, the Scratch Cat Pokemon developed an instant crush on her.

Cherry seemed to notice his odd behaviour, "Catty?"

Meowth's eyes glimmered, "Oh, how beautiful you are!" He cried dramatically, still keeping hold of his chest. Cherry felt a soft blush brush across her cheeks; she had always wanted a special someone, and Meowth had piqued her interest.

They both stared at each other, feeling a romantic connection.

In sync, Jessie and Babs narrowed their eyes.

"Meowth!"

"Cherry!"

Breaking their focus, both Pokemon looked toward the person who called them. Meowth gave a sheepish look as Jessie glared daggers at him, "Right, back to work…"

Cherry still blocked his path, giving him a wink.

Meowth began to giggle childishly, clasping his paws together, "Stop! Ya teasin' me!"

"MEOWTH!"

Jumping, Meowth collected himself again, "Okay, okay! Sorry!"

He dashed pass Cherry, avoiding eye contact and lunged toward Treecko, attempting to scratch him again. This time, he aimed lower, learning from last time.

"Jump, Treecko!" Sparrow ordered.

As Treecko leapt up, Meowth lowered his eyelids, "Wasn't expectin' dat…"

"Pound him to the ground!"

Treecko punched Meowth in the back of the head, knocking him out this time.

Jessie and James recoiled in shock, not expecting Meowth to lose to an untrained Treecko. James grabbed the handle of the net, "At least we still have our catch of the day!"

The lightness of the net confused him, leading him to glace at it, "What!?"

Pikachu was not in the net, rather stood next to Cherry, who had cut the net open with her claws.

Ash gave Pikachu a nod, and he knew exactly what to do. Using thunderbolt, all the Team Rocket members were caught by the bolts, shrieking in shock.

An explosion occurred, and they went flying off into the distance, "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off agaaaain!"

"Wooooobuffet!"

Now out of danger, the group smiled at each other, glad to be done with Team Rocket's antics. Sparrow patted Treecko on the head, "Good work pal!" She praised, lifting him back onto her hat. Ash spread him arms out as Pikachu jumped in for a hug, "You alright, buddy?"

"Pika!"

Babs put her hands on her hips, turning her head from Cherry, "I'm…very disappointed."

Everyone gave her a confused look, apart from Cherry, who looked to the ground in guilt.

"What? Why? Cherry was only trying to help!" Ash protested. Babs shot him a look, beginning to despise his attitude, "Keep out of this. I didn't ask for your input."

"Why are you disappointed then?"

Heaving a loud sigh, Babs looked down at Cherry, "If we _ever_ run into that…that-"

A sudden realisation hit Babs, "That talking Meowth?! Wait…a talking Meowth?!"

Sparrow giggled at her sister's confusion, "You okay Babs?"

"That is so weird…whatever, just don't talk to him anymore! Understand?"

Cherry gave a weak nod in response, still looking to the ground.

"Wow sis, ripping apart a relationship at its first stage-"

"And don't even get me started on _you_! Training behind my back! You could have gotten seriously hurt!"

Sparrow slapped her forehead, "But I didn't, _sis_. It clearly payed off, anyway."

Ash and Sparrow's eyes followed Babs as she stomped ahead with Cherry, too frustrated to continue arguing. Frowning, Ash held up Mudkip's pokeball, "We should really be heading to the Pokemon Centre."

Sparrow nodded, "Yeah…sorry about Babs, by the way."

"It's not your fault, Sparrow." Ash reassured her with a smile.

Deep down, however, Sparrow partly did feel responsible for her sister's stress.

* * *

The path opened up as trees grew further apart from each other, making a wide entrance into Oldale Town. Their walk through Route 101 had come to an end. Looking around, Ash saw that the town was much smaller than he had previously imagined it to be. The one building the caught his eye was the bright, red Pokemon Centre to his left.

"There's the Pokemon centre!" Ash beamed, running inside. Sparrow followed him in, feeling a warmth surround her body as she entered. Nurse Joy was at her station, per usual, in conversation with Ash, "I'll see to your Mudkip right away. Here is the form you asked for." She said softly, going into a different room with Ash's Mudkip.

Ash took hold of the form and scribbled him name down with a pen. Interested, Sparrow leaned toward him, "What's up?"

He handed her the form, "Just signing up for the Pokemon League!"

"Pika, pika!"

Grinning, Sparrow clicked the pen and wrote her details down too, "As am I, Ash."

"I'm so excited! I can't believe we're entering the Pokemon League!"

"It's pretty crazy." Sparrow replied, placing the form back on the front desk, "I wonder where Babs stormed off to…"

Ash's tone returned to normal, "I hope she didn't get lost on the way."

"Nah, that's not like her."

Ash scratched his head, "So she isn't signing up then?"

Laughing at his question, Sparrow shook her head, "Definitely not! She hates battling with a passion."

"Oh…"

"I just don't think she gets it like we do." Sparrow told him.

Nurse Joy returned with a kind smile, "Mudkip is all better – make sure to take good care of her."

Receiving Mudkip, Ash looked up to the nurse, "I will!"

They found themselves leaving as soon as they had entered, not spending long in the building. The next thing on Sparrow's mind was to locate her sister. Treecko perked up at the sound of Babs' voice, pulling on Sparrow's bun. Sparrow looked up, following Treecko's pointing direction and saw Babs talking to a Pokemart employee.

"So with that all said, please take this as a gift on your journey to becoming a regular Pokemart costumer!"

Babs looked underwhelmed, snatching the potion from the young man, "Have you finished your little lecture now?"

He nodded; his bushy brown hair bobbing up and down.

"Good." She said, walking away with a scowl.

Ash and Sparrow approached her.

"What's getting on your nerves now, sis?" Sparrow asked with amusement.

"I'm not talking to you."

"But you just did."

"Whatever."

"You just did it aga-"

" _Sparrow_!"

Clamping her mouth shut, Sparrow looked up, avoiding eye contact with her sister. Babs took a deep breath and looked up to the sky as it dimmed, "I'm staying here for the night."

Ash and Sparrow exchanged looks.

"But if we keep moving now, we could reach Petalburg City by nightfall!" Ash complained.

Babs ignored him, pulling out an inflatable tent, "I really do not care."

Sighing, Ash felt defeated, turning to Sparrow for support. However, a yawn escaped her lips and she gave him a weary look, "We've had a long day. We will travel to Petalburg at the crack of dawn, I promise."

"…Okay." He muttered, slightly disappointed.

It was now midnight in Oldale Town, every light was cut off with the exception of the Pokemon Centre, receiving the odd trainer who had started their journey late. An icy breeze snuck into Sparrow's tent; Ash shivered, waking up once again. He simply could not sleep – it was not fair. All Ash wanted was to get to Petalburg and battle his young heart out. Turning his head, he saw Pikachu next to him, eyes wide open. He smiled, "I know what you're thinking buddy." He whispered. Pikachu rolled over – his frown looked like a smile from Ash's view.

They both stared at the top of the tent, spacing out in their own thoughts when suddenly, a cracking twig broke the looming silence and grabbed their full attention.

It had come from the left side of the tent.

Looking back at Pikachu, who was as intrigued as he was, he motioned him to slowly follow him to the edge of the tent. Cautiously, Ash tiptoed in his bare feet, reaching a shaking arm toward the zip of the tent. Once he unzipped it, he peeked his head out, catching a glimpse of the creature. It moved swiftly, and was poking something he could not make out.

"Is that a Pokemon?" He thought aloud, silently getting closer to it.

Still unaware it was being stalked by the curious trainer and his Pikachu, the Pokemon continued to poke at the rope tying Sparrow's net down. It saw Ash's shadow slip across the net and released the rope from its mouth in shock. The Pokemon snapped its body in Ash's direction and took two steps back, unnerved.

Ash took out his pokedex and it identified the Pokémon, "Taillow, the Tinyswallow Pokemon. It dislikes cold seasons. They migrate to other lands in search of warmth, flying over 180 miles a day."

Another breeze ran through the air, causing Ash to wrap his arms around himself and shiver, "W-why would T-taillow still be here? If it doesn't like t-the cold, it should be somewhere warm!"

The Taillow was slowly backing away, shaking violently. Ash kneeled down and stretched out an arm, "It's okay. I won't hurt you." He promised with a soft tone.

However, the Taillow stayed where he was and burrowed his head deeper into his chest.

Ash took small steps toward him, "I only want to help."

Pikachu nodded, "Pika pika pi!"

The Taillow relaxed a little, keeping a close eye on Ash as he grew nearer. Ash sensed this and took bigger steps, keeping the sympathetic look in his eyes. They were now inches from each other; neither of them moved. Taillow wanted to know why Ash was being so friendly and took the tiniest step forward.

"Ash! Ash!"

The new voice startled Taillow and he freaked out, flailing his wings up and down in an attempt to fly away.

Ash widened his eyes in shock, "Taillow! Calm down!"

The Pokemon's outburst came to a halt, not because he had calmed down, however; his wing was injured. Taillow squeaked in pain, collapsing to the ground, weak, hungry and tired.

Pikachu and Sparrow joined Ash.

Sparrow felt responsible, "Oooh, I shouldn't have called for you so loudly."

Frowning, Ash carefully wrapped his arms around the Taillow and picked him up, "We need to get Taillow to the Pokemon Centre."

He received two nods and the three of them made their way back to Pokemon Centre.

Nurse Joy rubbed her eyes. She was supposed to be on duty 24/7, however, for her own health, she decided she would wait one more hour for a customer before taking a nap. Her eyebrows raised as she saw the familiar face of Ash emerge at the door; she could make out the faint outline of a Taillow.

"Nurse Joy! Nurse Joy!"

Leaning forward, Ash presented her with the half-conscious Pokemon, "Taillow's really hurt! You have to help!"

She immediately spotted the problem and took Taillow from him with a concerned look, "It appears Taillow has hurt it's wing. I'll scan for any broken bones." She said, leaving.

Ash sat by Sparrow, clutching the arms of the chair, "I hope Taillow's okay."

"Me too." Sparrow agreed.

It had felt like an eternity before Nurse Joy returned, and she looked quite relieved, "Thankfully, no broken bones. However, Taillow's wing is sprained and it may take a few days to heal."

"Thank you!" Ash chimed, giving Taillow a bright look.

In contrast, Taillow pouted and looked away, slightly embarrassed and mostly confused. He saw Sparrow and she smiled, "Sorry for scaring you." She apologised. Her voice seemed to sooth Taillow, and he yawned, accepting her apology.

"Let's get back to the tent, guys." Ash suggested.

* * *

 **That's another chapter! Kind of an eventful chapter, despite it being short. Now I know this is not how Ash met Taillow in Advanced, but this is an alternative; anything can happen so keep thatin mind. Leave a review if you like and stay tuned!**


	3. Taillow Takes Flight!

**Author's Note: If you'd like to see your OC appear in the story, PM me and I'll give you further details on the requirements. Also, I'd like to give credit to Super Daisy for collabing with me on this fic.**

* * *

The night sky had faded away, as the problem of yesterday did.

Everyone was still in their tents, asleep – except for Ash, of course. He had woken up ten minutes ago, lying across his sleeping bag pointlessly. It annoyed him that he always woke up before anyone else; it was like he had nowhere to dump all that extra adrenalin. Sparrow's soft breathing filled his ears and he sat up, checking if she was still asleep.

She was.

Disappointed, he turned back around, only to see Taillow's tired eyes slowly opening. Taillow caught a glance of Ash's warm smile and immediately felt at ease.

"Hey Taillow. You ready for today? It's going to be awesome." He whispered, struggling not to raise his voice.

Taillow nodded his head slightly, still a little startled from the encounter last night.

However, it suddenly occurred to Ash that he had not actually caught Taillow yet. Reaching into a bag, he whipped a pokeball out and almost handed it to Taillow, "This is a Pokeball. If you ever decide that you'd like to join my team this is how." Ash explained with a hopeful grin.

The Pokemon grimaced and looked away from it. Noticing Taillow's negative response, Ash tossed the pokeball back into the open bag and shrugged, "I guess not."

Both of their stomachs suddenly rumbled simultaneously, waking up Pikachu and Sparrow. Ash gave a sheepish look as Pikachu gave him a frown of disapproval. Sparrow, on the other hand, leapt out of bed and snatched up her alarm clock; it was seven o'clock in the morning.

"Only ten minutes early? I always wake up a half an hour before the alarm!" She complained.

Everyone was staring at her and she raised a hand, "I mean, good morning guys."

Her Treecko was at the end of her bed, still sound asleep.

"I'm starving! Taillow too." Ash told her.

"Pika pika!" Pikachu agreed, also craving some breakfast.

Sparrow stretched out, giving them all a laidback look, "Sorry, my sis is stashing all the food – I couldn't fit any of it into my rucksack."

The rucksack in question was at her bedside, packed to the brim like she had implied.

"And she has all our money too."

Falling back down into his sleeping back, Ash groaned.

"I'll go and grab you all a snack – wait here." Sparrow told them, leaving the tent. The dull morning sky was exposed to her emerald eyes, giving them a glossy reflection, as she looked up and took a breath of fresh air; she turned to Babs' tent and already knew she would still be asleep.

Unzipping Babs' tent, she saw Cherry's eyes shoot in her direction.

"Hi Cher," Sparrow greeted, "I'm just getting myself and the others some breakfast."

Cherry bounced up and swiped Babs' bag in her mouth, setting it in front of Sparrow. She knelt down and opened it, taking many items of food out, "I got my sandwich, some waffles for Ash, and lots of pokepuffs – perfect."

Before she left, she looked down at Cherry, "Care to join us?"

"Delcatty!"

They returned to the group. Ash rejoiced at the sight of the food, "Time to eat!"

"Pika pi!"

They all sat down to enjoy their breakfast, with everyone enjoying their food. Ash was practically shoving the waffles into his mouth.

"Careful you don't choke Ash." Sparrow warned him, taking a bite out of her sandwich.

He wiped his mouth, already finished, "Sorry, I just can't wait to get to Petalburg and battle the gym there!"

He received a look of concern from Sparrow, "Wait…you want to battle Norman?"

"I sure do!" He answered with pride.

She relaxed her expression, looking more pitiful than alarmed, "The thing is, you can't battle Norman yet, Ash."

He looked surprised, "Huh?"

"You need at least four gym badges to have the privilege of battling Norman – he's no joke, you know." She informed him, finishing her sandwich.

To Ash, this was the worst way to start of his day. He looked at her woefully, "Oh, I didn't realise…"

Smirking, she stood up, "It's not a massive loss Ash; Remember what we signed up for yesterday?"

Regaining his spirit, he stood up with her.

"The Pokemon League!" They beamed in union.

* * *

Poochyena's blood red eyes were squinted sharply, harshly scanning the surrounding field of grass. A light movement crinkled leaves carried by the breeze was shot down by the Bite Pokemon's glare; the breeze along with it died out.

Stillness; it could expose anything.

A sudden ruffle of grass caught Poochyena's eye. He slowly crept around the edge of the untrimmed grass, following the sound.

Now close enough, Poochyena leapt into the grass, landing on something unexpected. The tackled Zigzagoon looked up, furrowing his brows, "Zig! Zigzagoon!"

The Poochyena rolled his eyes; it was only Zigzagoon – his friend. He released the Zigzagoon, shaking its head, "Pooch, pooch."

Zigzagoon nodded; they had not eaten for a while.

What were two wild Pokemon to do?

They could not find anything to eat, for them or their families. It was a terrible situation to be in, but here they were, on the verge of giving up.

Voices from further down the path caused their ears to snap up. The two Pokemon hid behind a large tree, spying on the newcomers. Sparrow was the first they saw; she seemed happy, as well as the Treecko sitting atop her hat.

She was humming something; not exactly paying attention to her surroundings. She passed Poochyena and Zigzagoon, who both turned back to see Babs.

Unlike Sparrow, she was trudging along the path with a moody expression on her face. Cherry was playing with the bright buttons on her jacket.

As she passed the both took a step back, not wanting to get to close to the bothered teen.

Finally, Ash came into their view.

Poochyena's eyes widened, he saw something that interested him – Taillow.

Ash was carrying her in his arms as her wing was still healing.

Poochyena's cracked an evil grin, hatching a plan to catch Taillow. Zigzagoon leaned in, waiting for instructions. As Poochyena whispered the plan into his ear, Ash passed them.

As soon as Poochyena had finished, they spilt up, putting the plan into action.

* * *

"Well, if we can't battle the Gym yet, we shouldn't be staying for long," Ash remarked, still somewhat disappointed from the news he had heard earlier from Sparrow. He had been pretty pumped up for his Gym badge and he had been a little down after hearing that he couldn't get it yet, but most of that feeling had been washed away by a plateful of waffles.

Sparrow raised an eyebrow. "You do know there's a Pokemon League in that town, right?"

"Wait, really?"

Babs snorted in disgust at his ignorance, though it was fairly common for somebody so new to the region not to know something like this. Sparrow ignored her sister and smiled warmly at Ash. "Yeah! Since the inexperienced trainers who've just started their journey can't challenge the Gym yet, they hold a beginner's League just for them- and, of course, trainers entering the League."

The oldest of the group didn't know much about battling, but she had a hunch that it was a tad too early for a League just yet. "Holding a League right at the start of the region? Yup, real smart, considering you'll probably only have your starter by then."

"That's the point, Babs," the determined trainer protested, though now that it had been brought to his attention, it did seem a little silly, "it's to… pump you up for catching and training them!"

"Really? I don't think you'll be so pumped up after losing; you only have a puny Pikachu and a measly Mudkip. Not that they can help it, since they have to rely on their trainers, though, I wouldn't classify you as a good trainer."

Pikachu's ears perked up at the sound of his name, and glared at Babs, irritated. Taillow looked at Babs with curious eyes, wondering why she did not like somebody who had been so kind to her.

"Stop fighting, you two!"

Cherry sighed at her owner, hating how she disliked Ash, but a rustle in a bush caught her attention. "Del?"

"Hey, what's up, Cherry?" Sparrow asked, then noticed the noise coming from the bush. Automatically, she reached for the camera strapped to her hat, slightly startling Treecko.

A furry brown creature dashed out of the bush, playfully chasing its own tail and looking happily at the group of trainers before it. "Who's that Pokémon?" Ash questioned, reaching for his pokedex.

"Zigzagoon- the tiny racoon Pokemon. A Pokémon with abundant curiosity. It shows an interest in everything, so it always zigs and zags."

"Surprised you didn't know that, Pokemon master," Babs commented, but noticed that Ash and Sparrow were too absorbed with the Pokemon to care.

"So cute," Sparrow snapped a few photos of the Zigzagoon as Ash clutched Taillow tightly to his chest. Momentarily, Babs thought she heard something brushing against the grass, but identified it as Zigzagoon's bristly fur starching against the ground.

"Zig, zig goon!" Zigzagoon cried playfully, though it seemed to be eyeing Taillow. Creeped out, Taillow buried its head into its chest, trying to avoid contact with the tiny racoon Pokemon.

Ash chuckled, stroking Taillow's head feathers. "Don't worry, Taillow. Zigzagoon just wants to play, see?"

 _"Poochyena!"_

A blur of colours sped by without warning, surprising them all as it passed. Ash looked down to see if Taillow was frightened and needed comforting, but all that was in his arms was nothing but thin air. "Taillow's gone! Taillow?"

"Pika pi," the electric mouse Pokemon was pointing in the direction that the blur had sped off in, and Ash could see a grey and black creature speeding of with a screeching Taillow in its wide jaws.

Ash pushed himself out of a crouching position and started chasing after the mysterious Pokemon, more aggravated than they had ever seen him before. "Hey, get back here with Taillow, right now!"

Sparrow and Babs spent a brief moment of looking at each other in confusion before running after the figures that were now in the distance. "Wait for us, Ash!"

Zigzagoon lay down in the grass, feeling the blades brush against his skin. He knew Poochyena - there was no way some kids could catch up to him. Yawning and rolling onto his side, he smacked his lips at the thought of the Taillow he would have for supper tonight.

* * *

Running around Route 102, Poochyena could feel himself becoming more and more frustrated by that red capped kid. The bite Pokemon had suspected that the trainer would have given up and turned back by now, but he was still chasing him, and it was becoming increasingly harder to shake him off of his tail. Just his luck

"Give Taillow back right now!" Ash called, his voice hoarse after all of the shouting. He could command Pikachu to use thunderbolt or quick attack, but he was afraid that he would hurt Taillow, and perhaps injure her even more. A list of options rushed through his mind. Pikachu could use quick attack to catch up with the Pokemon, but as he had figured out earlier, ramming into it could hurt Taillow too. Another option was to send out Mudkip and use her water gun, but after only knowing her for less than a day, he couldn't be sure if her aim was accurate enough to hit a moving target.

Squawking, Taillow signalled for help, kicking and attempting to peck her captor. Poochyena was more surprised than angry; this was not exactly natural behaviour for a captured Taillow. They would try to fly away if he did not succeed in trapping their wings in his jaws, and from the angle he had to lunge at his prey he could not quite manage it. This Taillow didn't attempt to even flap it wings, and Poochyena noticed that one of them had a white bandage wrapped around it tightly that Pokemon leaving nearby Pokemon centres often had. It was injured! Maybe his luck wasn't so bad after all.

Poochyena began to dash around in zigzags that could put a Zigzagoon to shame in an attempt to misguide them before settling on one direction. Pikachu leaped off of Ash's shoulders and began chasing the Poochyena.

"Taillow, I'm coming for you, bu-!" n

Not looking where he was going, Ash bumped into the thick branch of a tree, toppling backwards.

"Pika," Pikachu looked back at his trainer worriedly, but continued chasing after Poochyena, electricity flickering from his cheeks, "Pikachu!"

Suddenly, the Poochyena stopped running and turned to face Pikachu, a growl emitting from his lips. Without warning, he charged furiously at him, knocking Pikachu into a large boulder nearby. "Pi!"

By now, Ash had regained his balance and ran to comfort Pikachu. "Are you okay, buddy? That was one powerful tackle attack…" Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his last remaining Pokemon's pokeball. "Mudkip, come out here and help us!"

Happy to be called out, Mudkip looked eagerly at her trainer. "Mudkip!"

"Quick, Mudkip, hit that Pokemon with your water gun but don't hit Taillow!"

Mudkip prepared for a water gun attack, but by the time she had launched it, Poochyena had dashed off somewhere else, cackling like a Gengar. She tried again, and again, and again, but it was no use. It was hard enough to hit a moving target after having little to no battling experience, but a quick one was beyond her. Exhausted, she fell to the ground, panting as the Poochyena tried to flee.

There was no sign of Sparrow and Babs; they had probably taken a wrong turn somewhere while looking for Ash. Pikachu was hurt and Mudkip was tired, causing Taillow to desperately wish they would arrive and help her, even if Cherry probably would not be of much assistance. She felt useless, not even being able to save herself in a situation like this. What could she do?

If only could fly.

She would never know if she did not try.

Energy surged through her sprained wing; she could feel the blood pumping through it once more. It felt so good to finally regain feeling of her wing, but she could not wait to recall the luxury of being able to use both of her wings.

Taillow needed to get out of there.

Now.

Flapping her wings, she desperately tried to take to the air, but as Poochyena noticed what she was trying to do, he bit harder into her skin, causing her to squeal in pain. _"Tai! Taillow!"_ As much as it hurt, Poochyena's bite had only made her even more determined to fly, and she flapped her wings even more.

It was then when Taillow began to rise from the ground.

With Poochyena still gripping on.

"Pooch! Pooch _yena_!" dazed and frightened, Poochyena cried for help, not daring to let go.

Ash looked up in awe at Taillow, amazed by how she was able to overcome her injury in such a stage of stress. "Taillow, you're flying!"

"Pika pi!"

Taillow chirped happily, but began looking down at Ash worriedly, as if willing him to do something about the Poochyena. "Oh, right. Mudkip, can you use a water gun on that Pokemon?"

The mud fish was still rather shattered from earlier, but managed to blast Poochyena in the face with a water gun, sending him flying into the bushes.

Relieved, Taillow soared into air, feeling the breeze ruffle her feathers. She landed in Ash's arms, who clutched her closely. "Taillow, you were flying! That's awesome!" The tiny swallow Pokemon cooed and began pecking at Ash's backpack, not noticing Ash's confused expression. "Huh? Oh, I get it," he took a pokeball out of his bag and smiled at Taillow, "you want to join me on our journey, don't you?"

Taillow nodded in agreement, stepping onto the ground. Pikachu clambered onto Ash's shoulder and watched with anticipation, his tail twitching. "Go pokeball!"

Bumping Taillow on the head, the pokeball landed on the ground with a 'clunk', surrounding Taillow with a glowing red light before she disappeared inside.

The pokeball shook once.

Then twice.

Before long the ball stopped shaking and the circle glowed red, indicating that Taillow had been caught.

Smiling, Ash bent down and picked the pokeball up. "All right, I caught Taillow!"

"Pikachu!"

"Hey, Ash!" Sparrow and Babs came running up to meet them, Babs looking particularly drained. She noticed that Taillow was missing, and her jaw dropped. "Oh no! Did that Poochyena escape with Taillow?"

Ash shook his head and threw the pokeball, Taillow appearing from inside. "I would never allow that to happen, right Taillow?" Ash pulled out his pokedex, "So, poochyena, huh?"

"Poochyena- the bite Pokemon. It has a very tenacious nature. Its acute sense of smell lets it chase a chosen prey without ever losing track."

Sparrow looked lost in thought. "That was kinda weird, for a Poochyena. You did attack it, right?" Ash nodded; the answer was obvious. "Usually Poochyena turns tail if it's prey strikes back, or in this case, it's allies. It must have been pretty desperate to do that."

For a moment, both Ash and Sparrow felt a bit sorry for the Poochyena. Sparrow rummaged through her bag until she found a quarter-full bag of Pokemon food which she left on the ground. Treecko nodded approvingly; even if Poochyena had caused some trouble, he knew that no Pokemon was truly evil.

"Really?" Babs commented as they walked away. "You think rewarding it is fine after all it did?"

"Oh, sis, you know that you always spoil Cherry, whether she deserves it or not."

From the bushes, a pair of red eyes watched them leave. Poochyena vowed that he would never eat a stupid Taillow ever again in his life.

* * *

Petalburg was especially packed when they arrived; tons of trainers were scattered around, preparing themselves for the Pokemon League. Some were battling, some were training – everyone was doing something. Ash was soaking in the tense atmosphere, ready to be a part of it. Seeing a good spot for a battle, he sprinted over without warning, calling Sparrow to follow after him, "Come on Sparrow! Let's get ready for the League!"

"Right behind you!"

Babs watched as they left, taking a seat on a nearby bench. It was beyond her how Ash and Sparrow still had energy to prepare their Pokemon. Cherry rubbed the top of her head underneath Babs' chin, "Del, Delcatty."

"Those two are a pain in my neck…and legs." She whined, stretching her legs; all that running had worn her out.

The massive white building behind her was truthfully stunning, for a beginner's tournament. It made Babs wonder why battling was so popular. Surely, it was not as enjoyable as people made it out to be…was it?

Babs shook her head at the thought, "Nah." She said out loud, confusing Cherry.

Ash and Sparrow were face to face, ready for a battle. Ash wanted Taillow to experience a controlled battle before entering the League, so he sent her out, "Taillow!"

Nodding at his choice, Sparrow picked Treecko up from her hat and set him down, kneeling eye level with him, "Okay Treecko, Ash clearly has the advantage here. But that's not going to be a problem for us."

"Treecko." He responded, crossing his arms.

Sparrow stood up, her eyes meeting a puzzled look from Ash, "Sparrow, are you really entering the League with only one Pokemon?"

She chuckled, "One's all I need."

Ash looked up, not wanting to step down on her pride, "Alright then, let's start this battle!"

"Let's!" Sparrow agreed, "Treecko, use leer!"

Taillow was caught off guard by the vicious look Treecko gave her, making her feel on edge.

"Taillow, don't feel intimidated! Use peck!"

Taillow took a deep breath to help her relax, and then dived down, her beak targeting Treecko. His unfazed eyes were focused on her – he already knew what to do.

"Jump now!" Sparrow timed, watching her Treecko leap up and land on Taillow's back as she zoomed by. Taillow squawked in shock, attempting to shake Treecko off; to no avail, however. Treecko kept his grip, waiting for Sparrow to give him the word.

"Now pound!"

There it was.

Taillow felt a pounding pain strike down on her head. Ash gasped in horror, "No! Taillow!"

Although the attack left her with a headache, Taillow pulled herself together and back to Ash's side of the battle field. Treecko was back on his side to, his expression suggesting that nothing much just happened. Sparrow was waiting for Ash to give an order, which he did, "Okay Taillow, use double team!"

Rapid movements of Taillow filled every corner of Sparrow's view. Carefully, she followed, noticing that now there seemed to be more Taillows than before. This made everything much more difficult. Ash grinned, "Can't tell which is which can you?"

"Don't be so sure," Sparrow said mysteriously. "Treecko use absorb!"

A smug look flashed across Ash's face, but was soon wiped away when Taillow kneeled over in pain, a green energy emitting from her that replenished Treecko's health. Taillow's copies vanished due to her lack of power to keep them visible. "B-But, how did you know which one was the real one?"

"It's simple, only life forms contain the energy that Treecko can absorb, so it would only work on the real one."

Ash stared at his friend blankly. "…What?"

She sighed and shrugged. "Eh, never mind. Treecko, use absorb to keep your distance!"

"Co!"

More energy left Taillow and she felt her pulse weakening, but she flapped her wings and slowly took the sky, soaring before diving in for a dangerous peck attack. Taillow was too fast for even Treecko. There was no time to even attempt to dodge, Sparrow could see that, yet at the last second he dashed sideways at a speed two stages faster than usual. "Woah, was that a move?" Ash asked, tapping on his pokedex as the tinyswallow pokemon frantically attempted to pull its beak out of the ground.

"Agility, a psychic type move. The user relaxes and lightens its body to sharply boost its speed."

"Cool, Treecko! You learnt a new move. Use agility again to overcome Taillow's high speed!" Treecko slumped his tense shoulders as Taillow recovered, instantly feeling way more relaxed and light. "Now finish her off with pound!"

Hearing Treecko's instructions, Taillow anxiously tried to fly upwards quickly, however Treecko's boosted speed was now fasted than hers. He leaped up and pounded against the bird's backbone, knocking her out. "Tai…l-llow…"

"Taillow is unable to battle! The victory goes to Treecko and Sparrow!" Sparrow announced congratulated herself.

Ash raised a brow. "Sounds a bit vain when you say it."

"Well, Babs is hardly going to do it."

The two trainers continued their conversation; they were being closely observed by an intrigued girl hidden behind a bush. Sparrow's techniques had quickly caught her attention and she wanted nothing more than to learn more about her strategies. She slipped out from her hiding place and approached them, her eyes set on Sparrow.

Turning from Ash, Sparrow spotted a white haired girl with deep blue eyes walking toward her. She noticed the hot pink colouring her skirt and collar strongly contrast with the icy blue coat she was sporting. As she walked, her silver diamond earrings swayed around – but her head did not move an inch.

"Hello." She greeted, rather firmly.

Surprised at the sudden introduction, Sparrow raised her eyebrows, "Oh, hey, what's up?"

She placed a hand on her hip; her fingernails were painted pink like her skirt, "I watched you battle and I must say, you're not bad."

Sparrow managed a crooked smile, "Ha ha, thanks. I'm entering the League this afternoon so that's really encouraging to hear."

Listening from the side-lines, Ash began to wonder how well he would do in the beginner's league. It was not like he had never entered a Pokemon League before, but Sparrow had definitely proven that he had a long way to go, "Hey, did you see me battle too?" He questioned the girl, hoping for some positive feedback.

"Um, I kind of wish I hadn't." She replied, rolling her eyes back to Sparrow, "Anyway, I'm Stacey. I have high hopes we'll battle in the Pokemon League."

At first, Sparrow hesitated to respond; this girl seemed serious. There was something too uptight about her.

"Yeah, me too." Sparrow nodded.

Stacey spun round and left, walking in a straight line like before. They watched as she entered the tournament building.

Ash pulled a face, "Is it just me or was that…"

"Weirdly straightforward." Sparrow finished, looking slightly baffled, "Why would start a conversation with me just to cut it short? I actually wanted to get to know her."

"Well I sure don't'." Ash disagreed, remembering her comment toward him.

"Pika pi!" Pikachu pointed.

Sparrow and Ash turned to see many more people entering the massive building. Since both trainers were finished their battle, they looked at each other, thinking what the other was.

"Want to go inside?" She asked.

"Yeah, let's go!" He beamed.

* * *

 **Okay, the Pokemon League is going to officially begin in the next chapter. It may seem a little early, but it's the beginners league and I want to get it out of the way. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, leave a review if you'd like.**


	4. First League, First Impressions!

**Author's Note: If you'd like to see your OC appear in the story, PM me and I'll give you further details on the requirements.**

* * *

Babs waved the two trainers over, her legs spread across the row of seats so no one would take them. She lifted her legs to allow Sparrow to sit down, along with Ash. They were all currently in the waiting area; Ash and Sparrow had just confirmed at the reception that they would be competing in this league.

There was a large black screen at the front of the room – it would soon reveal all.

Over the commotion of the thrilled trainers, Ash spoke up to Sparrow, "Could you imagine if we were battling each other again?"

She winked cheekily, "For your sake, let's hope not."

Babs butted in, with a sense of fake interest, "Are you going to take that, Ash?"

"I did beat him in a battle though."

Babs was now interested, "Ha, you did? I thought you said you were an experienced trainer, Ash."

Both Sparrow and Babs were looking at him, testing his patience, "It's just that Taillow needs more training." He muttered, sensitive of the topic.

"Okay, calm down." She said, slumping back in her seat. However, Sparrow did not budge, "I bet you'll do great in this league Ash."

"Thanks Sparrow." He replied, glad to finally receive a complement.

A voice began to speak through the intercom, causing the noise of the room to die down rapidly. Everyone was facing the black screen as it lit up.

"Welcome all, to the Pokemon beginners league!" A female voice boomed, "Everyone who has entered will be facing an opponent, in a one on one battle! Whoever manages to win all three of their battles will win the league! Please look at the screen, your opponent will now be revealed!"

All eyes were on the screen – everyone was paired up with an opponent.

"It seems we're not facing each other yet."

Sparrow's head snapped back to see Stacey sitting directly above her, twirling on of her signature pigtails, "I can only hope you win this round, Sparrow."

"Is that so?" Sparrow asked, her voice laced with suspicion.

Stacey blinked, "It'll give us a chance to battle, won't it?"

"Yeah, I guess it will."

They stared at each other intensely, both trying to figure out the other's weakness. Suddenly, Sparrow felt Ash tug on her sleeve like an excited child, "I'm up first, Sparrow!"

She grinned, "Well good luck then!" She said, giving him a pat on the back.

Ash leapt up and rushed to the arena entrance; he was determined to win this league no matter what.

* * *

"Coming into the arena from the left side is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!" The crowd went wild as Ash scanned all the faces, surprised at how many people showed up, despite the fact that it was only a beginners League. "And from the right side of the arena we have Kain Daze from Petalburg City!"

A man with deep blue hair, a pale green jacket and a soft gaze rushed into the arena, a smile on his face as she waved at the audience. Babs and Sparrow, who were sitting in the waiting room watching a screen that was showing the battle before Sparrow had to get ready for her turn in battle, turned to look at a lady next to them who was cheering particularly loudly for Kain. "Know him?"

"Oh, yes," she said, smiling sweetly, "Him and I are engaged."

Babs felt confused; people old enough to marry were still participating in such silly things like battling?

"That's nice." she said politely enough, not wanting to start anything.

"We don't usually battle," the lady continued, staring at the screen intently, "let alone participate in Leagues, but, why not give it a whirl? I'm sure Kain will win."

Sparrow raised her eyebrows. "Ash is a pretty strong trainer, y'know, and-"

"Him, a strong trainer?" Babs interrupted, much to her younger sister's dismay.

"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted," Sparrow shot a glare at Babs, "Ash might not be the greatest strategy-wise, but he can sure put up a good fight. Especially since he's already got three Pokemon. And if this Kain gets past Ash, he's got me to get past, and that just isn't going to happen."

The lady nodded politely, though she didn't seem too fazed. "So, how many Pokemon do you have?"

Sparrow indicated to her hat, "Well, I have Treecko and… that's it. You don't need more than one Pokemon to win the League."

"Maybe not, but Kain's Pokemon is really strong. You better start thinking of a strategy now." The woman turned back to the screen, listening to the audience's applause.

Sparrow looked at Treecko. "We do have a good strategy, but we do need more Pokemon, don't we?"

"Co?"

The young girl looked innocently at her sister. "Hey, sis, could I maybe borrow Cherry for this League? Just 'til I catch more Pokemon?"

Cherry's ears perked up at the sound of her name, but she was not so sure about the whole battling idea. Sure, she had used her moves lots of times before while practising for contests, but she had never really engaged in a real battle, and she had automatically assumed that it would be left to Ash's and Sparrow's Pokemon when they had met up. "Delcatty catty?" she looked up at her owner curiously, somewhat excited for her response.

Babs narrowed her eyes. "And why would you think I'd agree to that? I'm not letting Cherry get hurt."

"C'mon, sis. I know you; you'll barley bother catching any Pokemon of your own. I bet you'll only catch one or two more, possibly even none, and you can't rely on Cherry to win every contest for you, just like how I can't rely on Treecko to win every contest for me. Let's just say by doing this I'm giving you permission to use mine, and why should Ash lend you any of his after all those rude remarks you've been throwing at him ever since you two met?"

Sparrow's sister seemed surprised by her well thought out answer, and considered it for a few seconds, before reluctantly handing over the Delcatty's polished loveball, an angry frown plastered onto her face. "Fine, but don't blackmail me again."

Sparrow grinned impishly, running a finger along the outline of the heart on the loveball. "I'm only doing this to help you learn more about your own Pokemon. I don't know if you've noticed, but I think Cherry might be more than happy to participate in Pokemon battles from time to time." Sparrow recalled Cherry and Treecko back into their pokeballs and stood up as her name was called to prepare for her battle.

Babs stared blankly at her as she left. She had seen that look that Cherry had given her when Sparrow asked to use her; the prim Pokemon actually wanted to battle. Babs sighed and shook her head; Cherry was only excited because it would be her first real battle. Soon enough she would be back to normal, only wanting to participate in contests.

* * *

Hidden in the bushes, a dastardly trio, known as Team Rocket, lurked, pondering what to do after they had seen Ash and his friends enter the building. James was the first to speak up, though he didn't have any suggestions. "So, what do we do now?"

Jessie glared at him angrily. "We follow them, of course!"

Meowth put down his binoculars and looked at his teammate. "And then?"

The pink haired Team Rocket member looked at the two as if they were stupid. "We knock down the walls with a machine and steal all of their Pokemon!"

James and Meowth felt more hesitant about that plan. "But Jessie, it's a League. There will be some real tough Pokemon there, and though those tough Pokemon would be great for us to steal and all, we'll probably end up blasting off again."

"Yeah, and I don't have enough time to build de machine before dat League ends." Meowth added.

"Well, do you have any better ideas?"

Meowth grinned. "As a matter of fact, I do. C'mere!" They all huddled closely as the scratch cat Pokemon whispered to them, then snickering maliciously, they sneaked into the building, but not before putting on their latest disguises.

* * *

"Trainers, send out your Pokemon!" the announcer shouted, the crowd going wild. Ash grinned at the man in front of him, allowing him to send out his Pokemon first.

The man gripped his pokeball tightly, then threw it as hard as he could. "Come out, Spinda!"

Much to Ash's bewilderment, he saw a strange, tottering, rabbit-like Pokemon that couldn't seem to stay in one position. On its forehead, there was a distinctive red heart-shaped patch, though it's dizzy movements distracted most from its unique feature. "Who's that Pokemon?"

"Spinda, the Spot Panda Pokemon. No two Spinda are said to have identical patterns. It confuses foes with its stumbling motions."

"A Spinda!" the announcer yelled. "What can Ash use to battle against that?"

"All right then, go Mudkip!" The mud fish Pokemon burst out of its pokeball in a fighting stance. "Now, use water gun!"

Kain jumped at the sudden attack, rapidly growing nervous. He was expecting to get the first move, but now that chance was long gone.

"Counter attack with psybeam!" He managed to blurt out.

Spinda waved its hands around in a circular motion, with sparked up a twirling beam, shooting in the directing of the water gun attack. A clash of water and psychic attacks got the crowd cheering; the battle was getting serious.

Unlike Spinda, Mudkip could feel her jaw tensing up as she maintained the water gun. This only made her more determined to hit her target. She exerted her last bit of energy into the attack, shortening the psybeam until it made contact with the Spot Panda Pokemon.

"Spin!" The Pokemon cried, as he fell back close to his trainer.

Kain frowned, he was off to a bad start.

"Spinda are you hurt?" He asked as the Spinda stumbled to his feet.

"Spinda spin." It replied, looking slightly dizzier than before.

He nodded, relieved, "Okay, use hypnosis!"

Mudkip hardened her look as Spinda began chanting some sort of spell; her eyes were slowly getting drowsy as she took in the display of purple waves. Ash heard Mudkip yawn loudly before falling asleep, "Mudkip?"

He received a small snore in response.

"Oh no! Mudkip wake up, please!"

Nothing.

Kain seized the opportunity, now that he had it, "Spinda! Use psybeam!"

Just like before, Spinda emitted a beam of psychic power, targeting the sleepy Mudkip. It hit her directly in the face, causing her to flip over and land on her back. Her eyes began twitching; the psybeam was powerful enough to wake her up.

"Mudkip, no!" Ash sobbed, "Are you okay?!"

She opened an eye, "Muuuud."

Mudkip rolled over and regained full consciousness, standing up in aggression, "MUD!"

"That's the spirit!" Ash encouraged, "Use tackle!"

She bulldozed toward Spinda, with a vengeful look in her beady eyes. Kain noticed this and decided a swift attack was in order, "Use dizzy punch!"

To her surprise, the Spinda released a painful punch to her jaw, knocking her backwards. She rolled back, her back to the audience. Everyone gasped. Ash worriedly sprinted toward Mudkip, "Mudkip, are you-"

He had turned her over, and her eyes matched Spinda's, revealing that she was unable to battle. He gave the Mudkip a look of pity and returned her to her pokeball, "You did great out there, Mudkip." He murmured.

Getting back to his feet, Ash was about to take out Taillow's pokeball when he heard a sharp yell from his left, "Pika!"

He saw Pikachu approach him with concern in his eyes, he stood, "Pika pi!" He suggested, pointing to himself.

"You want to battle, don't you?"

"Pikachu!"

"All right then, go, Pikachu!" the electric mouse Pokemon leaped into the arena and glared at the Spinda, determined to defeat him.

The announcers voice boomed again as the audience watched in awe. "And Ash sends out his Pikachu! But can Pikachu compete with Spinda's hypnosis attack?

"Pikachu, use quick attack!"

A white aura glowed around Pikachu, and he started dashing around the arena, causing an applause from the audience. Attempting to locate the constantly moving yellow blur, the Spinda followed Pikachu with its eyes, only to become even more dizzy than usual. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his torso; Pikachu had struck! He tottered to the ground, writhing in pain, nobody could tell if he had fainted as his landing had made a large dust cloud.

Kain gasped in shock and confusion. "Spinda! Are you okay?"

The dust faded away, and a figure could be seen pushing itself off of the ground, though it was shaky and wobbly. "Spin…da…"

The blue haired trainer smiled with relief and thought momentarily about his next move. "Spinda, can you manage a hypnosis attack?"

"Spinda!" Spinda seemed stiller than usual as it was concentrating, though it still stumbled around as if it was dancing. Its eyes began to glow a vibrant blue, and Pikachu knew what would happen next, and he was not looking forward to it.

"Pikachu, close your eyes!"

Following Ash's command, Pikachu shut his eyelids before they became any droopier, but squeezed them tightly as to not fall asleep. Now he was unable to become hypnotised, but he could not see any more, rendering his aim as horrible. "Try to thunderbolt that Spinda!"

In his head, Pikachu could still remember where about the Spinda had been standing, and knew he could not have gotten very far since. He built up all the energy in his body, and began to glow a dangerously bright yellow. "Pikachu!" the electricity hurtled from his body onto the Spinda's, sending him flying into the far corner of the arena. Panting, Pikachu knelt to the ground, most of his energy now gone. He had put everything into that powerful thunderbolt, and if the Spinda was not fainted, he feared that he would be the one to be knocked out.

"Spin…" The Spot Panda Pokemon layed on the dirt ground, unable to battle anymore. His trainer recalled him into his pokeball, though he did not seem so disappointed about losing.

"And Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town and his Pikachu are the winners! They'll proceed onto the next round!"

After momentarily staying in the arena to soak up all of the praise, Ash ran out of the arena to allow the next battle to commence. He dashed into the waiting room eagerly and sat down next to Babs to look at the screen, waiting for the next battle to begin. "Hey, we won!" he told her.

"Yeah, you don't say."

Ash rolled his eyes, before noticing that her friend was gone. "Where did Sparrow go?"

"She's up now."

Ash smiled and turned back to the screen, watching in anticipation. "Cool!"

As intrigued as they were, their attention on the battle was short lived as a serious looking woman suddenly halted in front of the screen, scanning the trainers in front of her. Her dark pink hair was pinned up in a neat bun and her blue eyes were piercing through her glasses. Two others where beside her, a man with purple hair and a midget with bushy black hair.

"Attention trainers!" She began, "Before you can enter your battle, we must make sure you are not in possession of more than three pokeballs!"

"Three!" The two men chanted.

"If you are caught entering the arena with more pokeballs than you are permitted to, you will be disqualified."

A few of the crowd members looked nervous, indicating that they had more than three pokeballs on them. One of them spoke up, "Are you here to disqualify us?" He questioned in fear.

The woman cackled, "No. We are here to collect the pokeballs so you don't get disqualified." She motioned her hand toward the men, who both simultaneously open glass cases, "Just drop them in here!" The man with purple hair instructed.

Around six trainers walked up, dropping an extra pokeballs they owned into the case; all of them had a Pokemon inside, that they were planning to use. The three of them quickly thanked the trainers before zipping off, back into the reception room.

Ash watched the doors swing as they left, "That was weird." He commented.

"Too weird." Babs added, "I think I'm going to have a word with them." She decided, leaving Ash on his own. He stretched out, feeling better without Babs to bother him. Sparrow was on the screen and he smiled widely as she sent out Treecko.

* * *

When she entered the reception area, there was no sign of the three people in question. Babs looked over to the receptionist – her deep blue eyes were focused on her nails as she softly filed them. Babs had hunch that she would not have noticed them leaving, but she walked up and asked regardless, "Have you seen three people pass by?"

The brunette looked up from her nails, "Yes, a woman and two men just left a moment ago." She explained, pointing to the door.

"Did you recognise them?"

The receptionist shook her head, "Never seen them before."

A hard sigh escaped Babs' lips; she had a feeling it was a scam. It was none of her business, really, but now she felt obliged to return the pokeballs to their rightful owners. Doubtfully, she left the building, "They're probably miles from here now…" She presumed.

Her back jolted up when she heard a voice from behind her. She spun round and saw no one, but the voice could still be heard.

Whoever it was, they were behind the building.

Babs crept around the side of the building, keeping close to the walls. As she grew nearer, the voice grew louder.

It stopped.

Babs froze, thinking she had been heard, but another voice broke the silence. There were two people in conversation, and she could hear them clearly.

"Ten is enough, why take more risks?"

"Because I'm a risk taker. Besides, we don't even know what Pokemon are in those pokeballs. They could all be mediocre!"

Babs listened closely, getting mildly irritated by the hot-headed woman.

"I say we hatch another scheme before we leave." She concluded, waiting for a response.

A new voice spoke up, "Like trying to snatch dat twerp's Pikachu!"

Out of the three voices, Babs instantly recognised that one – it was the Meowth from yesterday. She gritted her teeth, remembering how he had flirted with Cherry.

"But how?" James questioned.

Jessie snapped her fingers, "That's easy, we just set up another scam!"

"What kind of scam?"

She pulled an impatient face, "Listen, the twerp won his first battle, right?"

Meowth and James nodded, "Right."

"But he is one Pokemon short, and only has Pikachu and Taillow left."

Meowth raised a brow, "Where are ya going with dis, Jessie?"

"The twerp's Pikachu will most likely get hurt during his next battle, so we are going to 'heal' his Pikachu for him." She said with a wink.

Meowth grinned, knowing exactly what she meant now. James tilted his head, "Why would we do that?"

Meowth and Jessie both shook their head, "Forget it James."

"Let's go."

Babs pushed herself off the wall, jumping into some nearby bushes as Team Rocket walked around the building. She had gone undetected and found out their next scheme – perfect. It occurred to her that she needed to stop them from taking Pikachu.

She hurried back into the building to warn Ash.

* * *

Babs entered the waiting room and rushed back to where they had been sitting, only Ash was gone, and replaced by a lounging Sparrow, Treecko resting on her hat and Cherry laying on the ground. "Hey, where were you? I came back a while ago."

"Where did Ash go?"

Sparrow seemed intrigued by her question, surprised that she actually wanted to know. "What, you concerned about him?" she giggled. "He just left to get ready for his next battle. I won by the way, since you haven't asked yet."

Babs sighed in frustration and sat down. "Okay, listen. You know that group that attack us yesterday? What were they called, Team Rocket? The guys in the white shirts with Rs and that talking Meowth who…" she glanced at Cherry disapprovingly, "flirted with Cherry?"

"Yeah, what about them?"

"That group of staff that asked for everybody's extra pokeballs were actually them! I overheard their conversation and they've got another plan to try and take Ash's Pikachu. So, no. I wasn't concerned about him, just his Pikachu."

Her sister gasped in surprise; she was told by Ash that some people had taken extra pokeballs before he had left but she hadn't been expecting that they were Team Rocket. "No way! We gotta confront them!"

She sat up and began rushing towards the exit, only to be pulled back by the sleeve by her sister. "No, wait! If they've just took some people's Pokemon, they could have some strong ones they can use! We've got to come up with a plan."

"Like what?"

Babs smirked. "Don't worry, I think I have the perfect idea."

* * *

Pikachu was panting – a few beads of sweat ran down his forehead. As harmless as his opponent seemed, it was actually quite lethal. The Surskit also looked worn out, shaking a little. Ash clenched his fist and he stared at his opponent; she batted her eyelashes and grinned, "Surskit, finish this with bubble beam!"

The Surskit emitted a burst of bubbles from its mouth; Ash knew he had to act now.

"Pikachu, jump and use thunderbolt!"

As ordered, Pikachu leapt up before the bubble beam could hit him and released the electric charge, hitting his target.

"SUUUURRRSKIIIIIIIT!" Surskit whaled in pain, before collapsing to the ground.

"Surskit is unable to battle! Ash and his Pikachu win the second round!"

The crowd erupted as Ash waved, walking back into the waiting area. The young trainer just won his second round; two more to win and he would be victorious. As soon as he entered the room, he felt someone grab him into a corner.

"Wha-?"

"Pika pika?!"

Babs pressed her index finger on her lips, "Shhhhh! Calm down!"

"Babs, what's wrong?"

Sparrow suddenly popped out from behind her sister, "It's a long story."

"Not really." Babs opposed, "Team Rocket wants your Pikachu."

Ash's eyes lowered in annoyance and he shrugged, "Yeah, that's nothing new to me."

"I mean they want him now – they're here."

Ash looked more concerned now, "Where? Where are they?!"

"Would you stop shouting." Babs hissed, "Are you trying to get yourself caught?"

"Sorry." He apologised sheepishly.

"I have a plan, so stay hidden until I tell you to come out, okay?" She informed him with a serious look.

"…Okay."

The sound from the intercom filled the room, "Sparrow McCann and Stacey Valley are now due to battle, make your way to the stadium." The announcer said before cutting the intercom.

Sparrow took a deep breath – she was up against Stacey. She had given Sparrow the impression that she was some kind of bigshot, and she believed it. Something about her just put Sparrow on edge.

"I better get going." Sparrow noted before running past them with Cherry by her side.

"I'm surprised you let her use Cherry, Babs." Ash stated with a smile.

Babs rolled her eyes, "Whatever."

The sound of the door bursting open made her turn to see Jessie in her disguise.

"There she is, follow me."

Babs led the way, with Ash following her in curiosity, "What's the plan?"

"Shh, you'll see."

Jessie stood in front of the screen, just like before, "Attention trainers! We are offering you all the chance to heal your Pokemon before your next battle! So step right up!"

Once again, a few trainers handed over their pokeballs. Jessie scanned the group, looking for Ash.

He was not there.

Suddenly, two people walked into the room, appearing to be in conversation. Jessie immediately recognised Ash and skipped over, blocking him, "Hello there! Interested in healing your Pikachu before the final round?"

Babs scoffed, "Excuse me, we are in the middle of a conversation here. Weren't we, Ash?"

He nodded his head, still unsure of what Babs was planning.

Jessie made a fake smile, "Well what conversation topic could be more important than having your Pokemon healed?"

Babs shifted her eyes away from them, "Oh, we were just talking about some delinquents we met yesterday – called themselves Team Rocket."

Jessie smile creased and she narrowed her eyes, "Is that so?"

"Yeah. I'll tell you two something, that Jessie had the _ugliest_ hair I've ever seen."

Jessie could feel her cheeks heating up dangerously. Her lip began twitching a little, forming into a snarl.

Babs continued, "It was so wretchedly crusty. If she was here now I'd tell her to trim it all off." She said with a small laugh.

Her intention was to attack Babs right there, but she felt both of her arms being held back by Meowth and James.

"Don't blow our cover, Jessie." Meowth whispered.

"Just think happy thoughts." James added.

Babs saw the other two members of Team Rocket and grinned, "Did I mention James yet? He looked like a vegetable yesterday!" She chuckled, "He just stood there like a dope."

"What?!" James shouted, a little shocked.

Meowth stood on his foot.

"Owwwccch! I-I mean, really?" He corrected himself.

"Yeah, he looked pretty dumb." Babs clarified, avoiding James' glare, "But worst of all was that scruffy looking Meowth!"

Meowth looked up with his eyebrow raised.

"That Pokemon was a freak of nature – he talked! Maybe he escaped a laboratory? I wouldn't be surprised, he looked like a failed experiment."

Meowth jumped up, "DAT DOES IT!" He bared his claws in Babs' direction.

Babs stumbled back, "Ash! Help!"

"Pikachu, use thunderbolt!" Ash demanded.

Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder and aimed a bolt of electricity at Meowth, electrocuting him.

"YEEEOOOOWWW!" He yelled, falling to the ground in a mess. His disguise had burnt up, exposing him as a Meowth.

"It's Meowth!" Ash realised, turning to Jessie and James, "Which means you must be Team Rocket!"

Jessie ripped off her disguise, "Prepare for trouble, you'll regret insulting us!"

James ripped off his disguise too, "And make it double, we're about to make a fuss!"

"An evil as old as the galaxy!"

"Sent here to fulfil our destiny!"

Meowth shakily raised his arm, "D-don't forget meeee."

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all peoples within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jessie!"

"James!"

Meowth shook himself, standing up, "Meowth's da name!"

"Whenever there's peace in the universe, Team Rocket will be there to make everything worse!"

Wobbuffet burst out of his pokeball, "Wobbuffet!" He said, ending the motto.

Babs waved her hands at the trainers, getting their attention, "Hey, everyone! These crooks have been stealing all your Pokemon!"

Murmurs of confusion was passed throughout the crowd, but eventually everybody in the room had formed a circle around the trio, angry looks on their faces.

Jessie growled and took the case full of pokeballs. "Well, we have ten here. Why take more risks? Let's go!" she ran off towards a gap the people had not filled and dashed out of the door.

James blinked in surprise then chased after her, slightly irritated. "Hey, that's what I said!"

"We'd really like to stay, but we must be goin'! Buh-bye!" Meowth called as he followed his companions, Wobbuffet not far behind.

Pikachu's cheeks sparked with electricity, a low growl emitting from his throat. Though weak, he was angry at what Team Rocket did, and hopped off of his trainer's shoulder to dash after them. "Pika!"

Ash smiled and nodded. "After them, Pikachu!" he commanded, now running alongside his furry friend.

Team Rocket had run outside by now, but they had taken a different exit than they entrance they had come in from before, leading them only to a towering wood wall. Meowth was ahead of Jessie and James and had latched his claws into the wood, already halfway up before he realised that they wouldn't be able to follow him.

"Meowth, we can't get up there!" Jessie complained.

The scratch cat Pokemon seemed more interested in what was going on behind them. "Don't look now but the twerps have been tailin' us."

"Team Rocket! Give those Pokemon back to their trainers!"

"Pika!" Pikachu shouted in agreement.

Jessie laughed at their request. "What makes you think we'll listen to you, twerp?"

Meowth had been watching intently when an idea suddenly entered his head. "Hey, Jessie," he whispered, "pass me dem pokeballs and I'll hightail it outta here while you battle the twerps! Dat way, if you can't grab Pikachu, I'll be waitin' with a full case of pokeballs!"

The pink haired Team Rocket member shrugged, tossing the case to Meowth. "Okay, but if we end up blasting off, you'll be in for it!"

"Pikachu, do you have enough energy to fight them?" Ash asked worriedly, wondering if he should use Taillow instead to preserve Pikachu's energy, but was reassured by a nod and determined "pika pika".

"Alright then, Pikachu, you know what to do!"

"Ha! You can't defeat us that quickly!" Jessie scoffed. "Go, Arbok!"

"Yeah, we're only just getting started! When we've wiped the floors with you, we'll have that Pikachu to go!" James added. "Come on out, Wheezing!"

Instead of the usual Arbok and Wheezing appearing, Jessie and James were left frantically searching their clothing for their pokeballs. "Where's my Arbok?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot we left them with The Boss," James recalled.

A vain throbbed on the side of Jessie's head. "Wobbuffet, do something!"

"Wobbuffet?"

Before Jessie could say anything more, a familiar thunderbolt was heading straight towards them, hurtling them toward the air.

"That was quick."

"Looks like we're the ones who were used to wipe the floors."

After hearing no sarcastic remark, Jessie and James shared a glance of 'something's missing'.

"Hey, Meowth isn't here!"

A hopeful look was shown on James' face. "Then that means he's got those pokeballs out of there by now!"

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off with a profit!"

"Wobbuffet!"

A dust cloud had been formed from thunderbolt, causing Ash, Pikachu and Babs, who had arrived while Team Rocket were talking, into insane coughing fits. After the dust faded away, they could make out the brown curled tip of a tail just over the wall. Babs stomped over and tugged on the tail sharply, now holding a confused dangling Meowth clutching a white case to his chest. "I'll teach you for flirting with my Cherry," she threatened.

Meowth giggled nervously and turned to face Pikachu. "Hey buddy, mind givin' me a thunderbolt?"

Pikachu tilted his head before emitting a golden light onto Meowth, shocking him and blasting him towards the air.

"Looks like I'm blasting off too!"

Babs watched the figure disappear into the sky with a gleam, shocked by how he handled the threat. "Well, that's one way to get out of a situation." A realisation suddenly hit her. "Hey, he just got away with the pokeballs!"

Out of nowhere, a case hit the ground with a clunk, opening to reveal a set of pokeballs. "Looks like he dropped them," Ash remarked.

A flood of trainers began piling out of the building to retrieve their pokeballs.

"My Wurmple!"

"Are you okay, Lotad?"

"I'm so glad you're safe, Wingull!"

Ash looked around at all of the trainers. "Looks like everyone got their Pokemon back." Suddenly, Pikachu fell to the ground, panting heavily. "Pikachu, oh, you're exhausted…"

Babs for once didn't say anything rude or snarky, and looked a bit worried herself. "You need to take him to the Pokemon Center."

"But if we leave now, we won't be back in time for our battle! And besides-."

"Ash! He's in terrible condition!"

The ten-year-old trainer sighed deeply. "If only I had some healing items, but that would be-."

Babs seemed to be in deep thought for a moment, before turning to leave. "Wait here." After a few moments of Ash murmuring encouragement to his Pikachu, Babs arrived with a potion in her hand. "I got this from a market promoter in Oldale Town – you can use it."

Ash watched in horror as Babs sprayed the potion on Pikachu's wounds. "I know you're trying to help but this is against the rules…"

"Ash! He's in critical condition! It's either this or the Pokemon Center!"

The trainer sighed and allowed her to continue spraying, much to Pikachu's dismay. As much agony he was in, Pikachu was a sucker for rules, and gave Babs a small shock, only about a tenth of the power he usually used. Babs screamed and frantically tried to smooth out her hairs, a few standing on edge. "I'm sorry! He was just mad about you breaking the rules!"

"UGH! Just leave me alone, Ash! If this is the dangers of Pokemon, I should have never let Sparrow use Cherry!" Babs barked.

She ran off calling her sister's name, and Ash watched her leave, Pikachu still cradled in his arms. "Just when I thought she was warming up to me…"

* * *

It was Sparrow's second round and she was determined to win it.

Her eyes darted around; the encouragement from the audience was phenomenal to her. Then, she returned the gaze of her opponent: Stacey.

She looked stern, per usual. But it was slowly stripping away Sparrow's confidence.

Before either of them could say a word, the announcer took the mic, "And now, the second round begins! Sparrow vs Stacey!"

The crowd cheers for them both as they return to their staring session.

"Good luck, Sparrow." Stacey said, winking.

"Yeah, you too, Stacey." Sparrow replied.

Ready to battle, Stacey reached into her bag and threw out a pokeball, "Come out, Seedot."

The flash of light formed into a Pokemon that strongly resembled an acorn. It hoped around in a bright mood, "Seedot! Seedot!"

"Seedot, stand still."

The Seedot obeyed Stacey's orders and stopped bouncing.

Sparrow frowned for a second, "…Okay." She tipped her hat and Treecko hoped off, "I choose Treecko!"

He crossed his arms, "Treecko."

Stacey smirked, "Your only Pokemon, right?"

Sparrow laughed nervously, "Heh, not exactly."

Now, the battle was all set; it all came down to who started it. Unable to preserve the tension any longer, Sparrow shot a pointed finger toward Seedot, "Alright Treecko, let's start off with pound!"

Treecko sprinted toward Seedot, his fist clenched tightly. Stacey snapped her fingers, rather amused, "Use harden."

The Seedot strained its entire body, and the light left a stronger reflection on its skin than before. Treecko swept his fist directly into Seedot's face, but instantly pulled back, shaking his hand in pain, "Co co co!" He blew on it, trying to ease the sting in his knuckles.

"Oh, right…" Sparrow mumbled, "Harden raises a Pokemon's defence…"

"That's right Sparrow – aren't you smart?" Stacey mocked, with a sly grin.

Sparrow furrowed her brows, tensing up her face – if there was one thing she hated, it was being treated like an unintelligent child.

"Seedot, use nature power!"

Due to the surroundings, the nature power attack was transformed into a swift attack. Sparrow watched a rapid trail of stars shot in Treecko's direction. Luckily for her, Treecko had learnt a move earlier that day, "Treecko, use agility!"

In a sudden movement, Treecko had dodged the attack. Stacey raised her eyebrows, not expecting it.

"And now, use absorb!" Sparrow ordered, knowing pound was not the best idea.

Seedot felt some energy leave him, as Treecko was taking it in. He had not actually regained much energy, but Seedot had now lost some.

Stacey was growing a little worried, wondering how she could stir up a new tactic. Her thoughts were cut short when Sparrow released another order, "Use absorb again, stronger this time!"

The same amount of energy left Seedot, but it was much weaker now as a double dose of energy had been taken.

Her Seedot was wobbling, badly weakened; she had made up her mind, "Seedot, get close and finish this!"

Seedot turned to give her a miserable look, but she only hardened her eyes. Sighing, Seedot turned back to Treecko and ran toward him, with its eyes closed.

"Um, is that a tackle attack?" Sparrow asked both Stacey and herself, in confusion. To her, it looked more like the Seedot was running away from something.

To everyone's surprise, the Seedot suddenly stopped, with its chest held high.

Treecko gave it a puzzled glance, "Treecko?"

Stacey's eye gleamed, "Now, use explosion."

Sparrow and Treecko gasped in shock as the Seedot took a deep breath and exploded, sending Treecko flying backwards. The camera panned on him as he flew back, crashing into the ground.

Both Treecko and Seedot were unconscious, unable to battle.

"It now seems that both trainers will have to use their next Pokemon in order to continue their battle!" The announcer clarified, "That is if they do have an extra Pokemon."

Stacey whipped out another pokeball, grinning.

Sparrow took out a pokeball just as Stacey had, returning the grin in a smug manner, "I got one more to spare."

"Same here."

Sparrow took a deep breath. "Cherry knows some useful moves, even if she doesn't have much battling experience," she murmured to herself before hurling it forwards, "Come on out Cherry! I'm counting on you!"

Out of the loveball, a pink and creamy Delcatty appeared, and began striking several poses, like she would normally do in contest, unsure of what else to do. Stacey raised an eyebrow at Sparrow, who's jaw had dropped low and was frantically trying to explain to Cherry that posing was not necessary in battling.

"Go, Numel." Stacey said, throwing the pokéball, forming a yellow and green camel-like Pokemon.

From a distance, Sparrow examined its hump, grinning. Seeing that it was notably small, she decided that it was male, due to females having exceptionally large humps. "Your Numel's a boy! Cherry, use attract to infatuate that Numel!"

Cherry winked at her foe, a few hearts appearing around her head as she did. They floated over to Numel and floated around him, but they had no effect. "W-what? Is it just a girl with a really small hump or something?"

Stacey rolled her eyes. "Don't you know anything? One of Numel's abilities is oblivious, meaning that it doesn't get affected by moves like attract. Duh."

"I… I thought it had simple and own pace…"

Stacey rolled her eyes again. "It can have those too. Numel, this shouldn't be hard; finish it with flame burst."

The Numel yawned and let out a large ball of fire out of its mouth, which headed straight for Cherry, who was too startled to move. "Del!"

"Cherry, are you okay? It couldn't have hurt that much…" she said, recalling that flame burst was one of the weaker fire moves. "Use hyper beam!"

A large bright light formed in Cherry's mouth, but instead of shooting the beam at Numel, Cherry shot it straight into the sky, admiring the sparkles that appeared as it exploded. Numel watched, tilting its head and even Stacey looked surprised. Sparrow's jaw dropped even lower than last time. "What…? No! No, no, no, Cherry! You shoot the hyper beam at the enemy, not the sky! This isn't a Pokemon contest! It's a battle! Learn the difference!"

"Catty?" she tilted her head in confusion.

"Wow! Delcatty shot its hyper beam in the air instead of the opponent! Could Sparrow and her Delcatty be planning something?"

Stacey flicked a strand of hair away from her face. "That was pointless, a waste of time. Too bad; I expected more from you. Numel, use earth power." The trainer was surprised to see her Pokemon not listening to her command; it seemed paralyzed, despite its ground typing. "Numel, I said use earth power."

Sparrow was puzzled; why was Stacey's Numel not listening to her? Upon closer examination, she noticed that the sparkles that had emitted from the hyper beam were landing on Numel, and seemed to be hurting him, like a normal hyper beam would. Cherry had noticed this and began elegantly dodging the sparks, absorbing the praise she received from the audience.

The announcer started screaming into the microphone. "Look at that! The sparks from that hyper beam are now effecting Numel, and seem to be paralysing him due to their power! Could this be a carefully planned out tactic to be used ground types to paralyse them? And since the move counts as missed, Delcatty won't need to recharge for a turn! What brilliance! This tactic is genius! How does it even work?"

"Yeah! This is what I planned all along! Haha!" Sparrow lied, laughing hysterically.

Stacey stared at Sparrow; this time she was the one with the low jaw. "That shouldn't even work! Hyper beam doesn't paralyse its target!"

"It does now! Ahaha!" Sparrow laughed, but now she was becoming nervous. Of course she knew that hyper beam did not paralyse the opponent, and if it did, she was not sure if it would work against Numel. She figured Numel was just suffering from the pain, and it would not be longer before he regained power. "Quick, Cherry, use hyper beam again! Up in the sky!"

Glittering sparks stopped emitting from the sky, and Numel could continue battling, but another hyper beam had begun forming in Cherry's mouth. "Numel, use sandstorm!" Out of Numel's hump, sand sprayed everywhere, locking the battlefield in an intense sandstorm. Cherry shot her hyper beam in the sky, and watched as the shards came down, only to see that, to Sparrow's horror, they got caught up in the sandstorm. Numel was hurt by the shards, by Cherry was now being buffeted by both the hyper beam shards and the sandstorm. The sandstorm had grown too powerful for either Pokemon to see their foe, let alone their trainers, and their attacks would surely move unless some stroke of good luck, so neither of them said anything. The sandstorm was raging too loudly now for Cherry or Numel to hear anything but their own panting, so none of their trainers could command them. All they could do was toughen it out and see which one of them could withstand the sandstorm coated with dangerous hyper beam shards.

A thud could be heard from inside the sandstorm, indicating that one of them had fainted. "Stop the battle!" The announcer shouted, and sent out one of her own Pokemon: a large red and black bird. "Use gust to blow away the sand storm!" The Pokemon flew above the arena and blew a powerful gust onto the arena, blowing away the sandstorm. Now they could see who was still standing. It was Numel, but he was in terrible shape.

"Stacey and her Numel win!"

Both trainers recalled their Pokemon into their pokeballs. Sparrow sighed at her defeat, looking up to see Stacey. "You gave me more of a challenge than I expected," the white haired girl said, "I believe we'll meet again soon."

Stacey walked out of the arena, and Sparrow watched her go, biting her lip. "Now how do I explain to Babs that Cherry fainted…?"

* * *

"YOU WHAT?!"

She saw this coming, now she just had to deal with it. Sparrow relaxed her shoulders and tried to calm her sister down, "If you ask me, she was doing pretty well, sis."

Babs shot daggers at her, snatching Cherry's pokeball, "Save it Sparrow! I don't want to hear your pointless blabber! Consider yourself banned from ever using Cherry again!"

"Fine!" Sparrow shot back, "Don't ask to use my Treecko!"

Babs snorted, "I won't."

They began storming off, but noticed that they were both heading in the same direction.

"Why are you following me?" Babs asked.

"I'm going to the Pokemon Centre!" Sparrow answered.

At that, Babs picked up her pace to get to the Pokemon Centre first. Instead of competing with her, Sparrow slowly continued walking, feeling weighed down at the fact that she lost her second round. Suddenly, it occurred to her that Ash was on his third round, causing her to smile, "Touché." She said, remembering their battle before the league.

Babs practically flung the door open, marching in at a dangerously fast pace. She stopped at the counter and held out Cherry's pokeball, "I need my Pokemon healed."

Nurse Joy gave her a blank look, then smiled, "Of course." She said, taking the pokeball.

Babs crossed her arms, tapping her foot impatiently, "I should have just travelled on my own." She thought allowed.

"My dear, I would be honoured to join you on your travels!"

The voice caught her attention, but she could not find the source of it. A sudden tug on her hand made her look down to the person in question; he was a tanned man with spiky brown hair and a pearly white smile. He was on his knees, holding Babs' hand as if her were about to propose to her.

"Your beauty makes my heart flutter like a butterfree! Would you join me, my sweet, as we travel the land of Hoenn together!"

Babs was baffled.

"What are you talking about?! We just met – in the weirdest way possible!"

His smile faded as he lost hope. Babs jerked her hand away and shook her head disapprovingly.

"That's not how you impress a woman."

He immediately took her hand again, "Would you teach me how?"

"No. You should not be within one meter of any girl!"

His head hung as misery set in, "But, all I've ever wanted was a date…"

Babs turned her back to him to greet Nurse Joy, who had returned with her pokeball. Sparrow had arrived and handed Treecko over to a Blissey and looked pityingly at the man. "Um, don't let her get you down. She can be kind of rude sometimes."

"What kind of Pokemon breeder am I if I can't even woo a girl?"

Sparrow's eyes lit up at the mention of his profession. "A breeder? Cool! I just started my journey as a trainer, but I often went to the safari and sometimes breeders came to see the Pokemon there. I bet Ash would love to meet an actual breeder!"

The man looked up, intrigued. "Ash? You mean Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, I know him," he said, now smiling, "we travelled Kanto together!"

Sparrow beamed. "Woah! I heard Kanto's got a really great Safari Zone! Is it true that there are some really strong Gym Leaders there? To be honest, you do kind of look like one of them – the one from Pewter City!"

"That's because you're looking at him."

Sparrow's mouth formed into circular shape as she gasped in surprise. "You're Brock? I mean, I'm honoured, really, but if you're a Gym Leader in Kanto, what are you doing here in Hoenn?"

"I get around, to meet beautiful ladies," he remarked, looking at Babs in awe, "but I don't seem to have much luck."

"If Ash is your friend," Sparrow continued, taking Treecko's pokeball off of a tray the Blissey offered her, "then he'll be glad to see you again! C'mon, let's go!"

Sparrow dragged Brock by the hand as Babs watched them leave, Cherry's loveball in her hand.

"Oh great, another annoyance. You'd think he'd have some common sense; you don't try to woo a girl like that."

A Nurse Joy smiled kindly at Babs. "Are you watching the League? There are some TVs here if you would like to watch; you can just sit down and make yourself feel at home," she said, gesturing at groups of people who were chatting amongst each other on creamy white sofas as the third round had just finished.

"Oh no, well, sorta. My sister's competing, Well, she was competing, but she lost," Babs said, still angry at Sparrow for letting Cherry faint.

Nurse Joy nodded. "Is she the one with white hair in pigtails? She just lost the third round."

"No, that's someone else," Babs shrugged, walking out of the centre.

"So, sis, your rival lost," she said to herself as Sparrow had ran off with Brock a while ago, "looks like she shouldn't have been so confident. I could say the same for you, though."

* * *

Two trainers remained. It was time for the showdown.

Ash looked at Pikachu, exchanging a confident nod; he had made it this far, and nothing was going to stop him.

From the left side on the arena, Ash stepped forth, collecting cheers from the audience each step he made.

From the right side, a new face emerged – one Ash had not seen before. He was a tall, charming boy, with curly chocolate brown hair and tanned skin. From Ash's view, he looked sure that he was going to win.

"Well I'll just have to prove him wrong." Ash thought to himself.

His opponent eventually reached a point where he could introduce himself, "Hola, señor! My name is Diego. This battle shall truly determine the better trainer, so please, try your very best!"

Confused, Ash raised an argument, "This will only determine the winner!"

Deigo chuckled, wagging his finger, "No no, señor! If one loses a battle, it will only prove that they have way to go. The better trainer here will already be prepared."

Ash hardened his look, "I think you're missing the point." He mumbled.

"The final battle commences! It's Ash Ketchum Vs Diego Soldado! Whoever wins this battle will win the entire league!"

The announcers voice rung in Ash's ears as he struggled to concentrate. A lot of pressure was being put on him – he normally found himself losing the most vital battles.

His first choice was Pikachu as he automatically jumped off Ash's shoulder.

"Ah, a Pikachu. This is my first time seeing one up close." Diego said casually, pulling out a pokeball, "Come out amigo!" He beamed, throwing the pokeball up in the air.

A Pokemon burst out, "Lotad!"

"Who's that Pokemon?"

"Lotad, the Water Weed Pokemon. It searches about for clean water. If it does not drink water for too long, the leaf on its head wilts."

Ash nodded, signalling he was ready to battle. Diego smirked, "Please, be my guest to make the first move." He offered with a respectful bow.

Ash was growling suspicious of Diego; he concluded that it was some sort of trick.

"Oh no, after you Diego!" Ash insisted.

Diego tilted his head, "Are you certain, señor Ketchum?"

"Yeah!"

He flicked his hair and posed, "Alright Lotad, use bubble!"

Lotad began shooting large bubbles from its mouth in several directions, preventing Pikachu from making a rapid escape. Pikachu panicked, trying to find an open space.

Ash clenched his fist, "Pikachu, use quick attack to bounce on the bubbles!"

Pikachu seemed excited by the order, detecting a path in the bubbles. He glowed white as he dashed toward the first bubble, leaping onto the next before the burst could inflict damage. Pikachu grew closer every bubble he jumped on, eventually landing on the ground and charging into Lotad.

"Taaad!" It squealed as Pikachu knocking it backwards.

"Redeem yourself with astonish!" Diego ordered.

To Pikachu's surprise, stood upright but kept its face covered by its lily pad, mumbling something incomprehensible to its self. Unsettled, Pikachu took a small step back, "Pika pi?"

Lotad suddenly shot up in Pikachu's face, making a terrifying face which knocking the electric mouse Pokemon back "PIKA!"

Pikachu laid on the ground in shock, alarming Ash, "Pikachu?! Buddy are you okay?"

Pikachu did not respond, intruding the announcer, "It appears that Pikachu is to astonished to move!"

This was the perfect scenario for Diego, and he took advantage of it, "Lotad, it's time for mega drain!"

A large amount of energy was being transferred from Pikachu to Lotad. As Pikachu weakened, Lotad gained strength, angering Ash and pleasing Diego.

Pikachu rested his head; he had fainted.

Ash walked over and picked him up with a disappointed look, "Thanks pal, it's about time you got some rest."

"Pikaaaa…"

Now, Ash was down to one Pokemon: Taillow. She flew gracefully out of her Pokeball, looking down to the challenging Lotad, "Taillow!"

"A Taillow? Pretty common, is it not?"

Ash frowned. "Maybe Taillow isn't rare, but she sure knows how to battle! Use peck attack!"

A glint was in Taillow's eye, and she began to soar downwards at alarming speed, her beak glowing white. "Lotad, use water gun," Diego commanded his Pokemon. The water weed Pokemon spewed a jet of water in Taillow's direction, but she swiftly dodged and pecked Lotad's lilypad.

"Lo-o-o-o!" Lotad toppled backwards, trying to escape from Taillow's violent jabs, but she continued to peck at him, until his eyes were swirls. "Taaaaad…."

Diego retreated Lotad back into his pokeball, still confident. "I may be down by one, but this battle is not over, señor." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a second Pokemon. "Come out, my amigo Trapinch!"

A small orange insect like Pokemon came out of the pokeball, looking determinedly up at its foe: Taillow. "Trapinch!"

Pulling out his pokedex, Ash flipped it open at pointed at Diego's Pokemon, noting that it could be a powerful opponent. "Trapinch, the Ant Pit Pokemon. It lives in arid deserts. It makes a sloping pit trap in sand where it patiently awaits prey."

"Trapinch use dig!"

Burrowing a tunnel into the ground, Trapinch disappeared under ground. Ash could often forget common knowledge about Pokemon typing, but he clearly knew that a ground type move wouldn't work against a flying type like Taillow whether she was flying or not, like how normal and fighting type moves have no affect against ghost types. "Thanks for the easy win," he said, "Taillow, wait for Trapinch to come back out then slash it with a wing attack!"

Taillow's wing began glowing white, but after waiting patiently for a few moments, the light faded away. Trapinch still had not come out of the ground yet. Confused, Taillow flew down to the ground and peered into the tunnel, trying to see where Trapinch could be. "Tai?"

Diego smiled craftily. "Trapinch, come out!" Suddenly, from behind the tiny swallow Pokemon, Trapinch leaped out from the ground, startling her. "Now use crunch!" Trapinch ran closer to Taillow and dug his jaws into her wing, causing her to cry in pain.

"Low!" she screamed as she was knocked back and Trapinch released his grip. Memories from earlier that day rushed back into her mind and her face wrinkled as she became increasingly angry, her face burning red. Trapinch had damaged her wing, but as she had earlier, she mustered up the strength to take to the sky, faster than before.

Ash's opponent seemed surprised by Taillow's determination. "That was a strong crunch attack; my amigo would have surely prevented use of any other Taillow's wing. Perhaps yours is not as weak as I originally suspected."

"That and you're just overly confident," Ash stated despite his own overconfidence, "right, Taillow, use gust!"

Angered, Taillow flapped her wings rapidly forming a surge of air down onto Trapinch. Diego's Trapinch struggled to grip onto the ground, but was pushed back by the force of the air, rolling backwards into the wall of the arena. "Pinch! Trapinch," the ant pit Pokemon leaped back to its four feet, ready for its next command as Taillow tired of blowing its gust attack and was now focusing on flying.

"Use rock slide!"

Out of nowhere, boulders began appearing out of the sky, on landing on Taillow slamming her to the ground and breaking into two as it did. "Taillow, no!" Ash shouted, about to run onto the battlefield, until he realised that Taillow was still conscious, though losing energy, fast. Suddenly, an idea sprouted in his head like a seed. "Taillow, use gust on those rocks!"

The audience gasped, and the announcer spoke into the microphone. "A gust on boulders? Surely his Taillow can't be strong enough to move them with a simple gust? Or does Ash have a trick up his sleeve?"

Taillow was a little shocked by his command, but began creating a gust with her wings, and was surprised to see them closing into Trapinch, trapping him, as he looked around, shocked. "Quick, use dig to get out of there!" Diego shouted. Trapinch began digging into the earth, Ash grinning. Taillow caught Ash's facial expression and realised he had a plan, and she begun to smile with him, hunching into a battle positon.

Suddenly, Trapinch shot out of the ground, and Ash seized his chance. "Now, use peck!" Taillow's beak glowed and she rammed into Trapinch, sending him flying into a row of boulders, and finally against the stonewall of the arena.

"Tra…" he murmured, fainting.

"Trapinch is unable to battle! Looks like Ash and his Taillow win!"

Taillow flew into Ash's arms, rubbing against his chest affectionately. Pikachu, who had recovered while resting was cheering for them both. "Yes! We win!" he turned to face Diego, who was bowing at them after returning Trapinch to his pokeball.

"It seems you are the better trainer for now, señor, but I will win next time."

Ash rubbed the back of his neck with his arm. "Eh, sure…"

"Please tell me, how could you tell that Taillow's gust attack would be strong enough to move Trapinch's boulders?"

"Well, since one broke as it hit Taillow," he began, "I figured that they weren't very strong," Ash concluded as he sent Taillow back to her pokeball.

Diego nodded. "I see; I still have a lot more to learn as a trainer." Diego turned and left, "Until we meet again!"

Whooping, Ash ran back inside to brag to Sparrow and Babs about his victory. "Hey guys, I won, I won!"

"Seems like you're just as strong as always Ash," a familiar voice remarked.

* * *

 **Longest chapter yet! Make sure to leave a review!  
**


	5. No Shroom for you!

**Author's Note: If you'd like to see your OC appear in the story, PM me and I'll give you further details on the requirements.**

* * *

"So you came to Hoenn to learn more about becoming a Pokemon breeder?" Ash inquired.

Brock smiled warmly. "Yeah, though I wasn't expecting to meet up with you, at least not this soon. How long ago did you arrive?"

The sky was a blur of orange and red, though it was only about five in the evening. Ash and his companions were in the Pokemon Center as Ash and Brock discussed how they had arrived at Hoenn after having to pull Brock away from a confused Nurse Joy. "Actually, I only just arrived from Johto about two days ago, heh."

Sparrow tilted her head briefly, before realising that Treecko was about to topple off of her hat. "Wait, I thought you came from Kanto, right?"

"I do! I was just travelling in Johto for a while."

Sparrow clasped her hands together, "Cool, I've always wanted to go there! What's it like?"

Ash leaned against a wall, "If there's one thing I remember about Johto, it's that there were some awesome Pokemon there."

"Pika!" Pikachu agreed.

"Oh man, maybe we can visit sometime! I mean, once we've done everything here." Sparrow insisted, "It'd be lots of fun, for sure."

As Ash was about to answer, Babs cut in, "Can you have this conversation some other time, I want to book a room for the night."

Ash knew where this was going, "Oh no you don't! You did the exact same thing in Oldale Town! Look, it's not even late!" He complained, pointing to the early evening sky.

"Yeah, but I'm tired and want to get some rest." Babs replied plainly.

Ash curled his lip, "How could you be tired? All you did was sit and watch us battle!"

"Actually I did much more than that you ignorant little pest! I bet if I hadn't have sprayed that potion on your Pikachu you would have lost the league!" She shot back.

"I would have preferred losing!"

Babs rolled her eyes, "That is such a lie."

Sparrow held out her arm, gripping Ash's shoulder, "There's no point in arguing with her, Ash. This is a battle you can't win."

He sighed, "Yeah, thanks for the reality check."

Brock twirled around, "I think she's cute when she shouts."

Babs glared at him, "Quit it, would you!?" She snarled, leaving the Pokemon Center without them.

The three of them did not dare to follow her. Ash scratched his head, "Is it just me or does she seem to have a habit of leaving without us?"

"Get used to it." Sparrow shrugged, sitting back down, "Wanna go sightseeing or something? I mean, there isn't really much to see around here, but still."

"I say we call it a night," Brock announced, standing up from his chair. "After all, if we get some rest now, we can get up bright and early so we can leave before all the other trainers who entered the League. There's going to be some fuss when they all start trying to leave at the same time."

Ash nodded. "Right, I'll go tell Nurse Joy that we're renting a room." He got up and began walking towards Nurse Joy swiftly as he knew that Brock would rush up and demand that he could do it himself and flirt with her for an eternity. Sparrow lifted a finger in protest, but Nurse Joy had already begun her usual greeting.

"Hello, how may I help you?"

Tipping his hat back, Ash returned the smile to the Nurse Joy. "Can I rent a room for me and my friends? Just for tonight."

Pikachu nodded.

Nurse Joy shook her head, smiling sadly. "You must be from Kanto or Johto, right?"

Ash was a little put off by the random question, but nodded in agreement. "Kanto, what about it?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, you can't rent a room here."

"Pi?"

The trainer blinked in a mixture of confusion and shock, just as surprised as Pikachu. "What? Are all the rooms full or something?"

"I'm afraid Pokemon Centers here in Hoenn aren't like the ones back where you came from. Here we focus completely on our health service; I apologise for any inconvenience."

Ash shrugged sheepishly. "Oh, no, it's fine. Babs said she was gonna book a hotel room anyway, but I just thought she didn't know that Pokemon Centers are cheaper. Thanks anyways." The ten-year-old trainer trudged back to his seat, Sparrow looking at him expectantly.

"I would tell you but from the look on your face I'm guessing you already know. C'mon, I saw Babs eyeing up 'Staryu Hotel' earlier; I bet she went there. Let's go." All three rose from their seats and began following Sparrow as she led the way.

Brock ran up to Nurse Joy just as they reached the door. "By the way, Nurse Joy, I love what you did with your hair!"

"What? Oh, um, thank you." She replied, leaning backwards.

"Yours is wispier than the Nurse Joy in Odale Town!"

Ash laughed, embarrassed. "Only good old Brock could tell something like that. They all look the same to me."

"At least he's got over his heartbreak," Sparrow joked.

From a nearby bush, Team Rocket watched silently as Ash, Sparrow and Brock left the Pokemon Center and head towards a hotel, though two of them did not seem as intrigued as usual.

"James! Meowth! What's the plan?" Jessie demanded as put down her binoculars, realising that they were slumped against a tree.

Meowth raised a paw as if he had an idea. "I say de plan is…"

"Yes?"

"…we go to sleep." Meowth concluded, curling up into a ball and shutting his eyes, only to have his tail painfully pulled. "YEEOOOOWCH! Hey, I was joking, okay? I'm just so tired and we've already tried da whole stealing Pikachu thing today. Can't we just recharge our batteries already, Jess? YEEOOOOWCH!"

Jessie released the crumpled tail out of her fist. "No we cannot; it's way too early anyway! We've got to come up with a plan to steal that twerp's Pikachu! And look, the twerp from Kanto and Johto is back too. I wouldn't mind stealing some of his Pokemon."

James and Meowth watched obediently to avoid any further mistreatment, until James acknowledged something, "Hey, how come those twerps get to stay in a fancy hotel when we're stuck out here in the cold?"

"'Cuz we're well known criminals and we ain't got no money anyway, Jimmy." Meowth reminded him, scratching his head thoughtfully. "Well, if we ain't getting any sleep, we should make some use of this time. Let's go to dem woods just outside this town and wait dere."

"Why would we wait there?" James asked.

The scratch cat Pokemon smirked. "Dat twerp's done his League so he'll leave dis place as soon as possible. I say we wait dere for him and we might even snag some Pokemon while we're at it! Itsa fool proof plan; we'll get something no matter what!"

"That's what you said last time," Jessie mentioned, much to Meowth's dismay.

"I know what I'm saying! Don't it sound like a good plan to you guys?"

James shrugged. "I've got nothing better."

"Fine, we'll go with your plan, but I better not wake up with bug Pokemon all over me!" The pink haired Team Rocket member threatened.

Meowth sneaked a smile and muttered under his breath. "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure you're a Poke-repellent. _YEEOOOOWCH!"_

* * *

Ash leant on the wall outside of the hotel, wishing he had a watch. "What's taking her so long?" he complained to Sparrow.

"She's dressing." She said simply.

"She's dressing?" Ash repeated in disbelief, unaware that it was possible to take that long to dress. "You said that about ten minutes ago!"

Sparrow shrugged, "I'm just as baffled as you are, though I've been living with her my whole life and this happens practically every day. Look, here she comes." The trainer gestured towards the doors, which were being opened by her sister, Cherry by her side.

"Hope I'm not too late."

Ash narrowed his eyes. "I think in this situation it would have been better if you never come rather than late."

"Of course you're not late! Not at all!" Brock exclaimed, clasping his hands, only to be given the cold shoulder. "This is what I get for standing up for you…"

"Treecko!"

Pikachu sighed, "Pi…"

Cherry furrowed her brows at the scene.

Sparrow bit her tongue. "Guys, let's go! If we leave now we'll be in the next city in a couple of days."

"A couple of days?" Babs raised her eyebrow. "Why did I ever sign up for this?"

Ash nodded his approval. "Yeah, let's go!"

"Pika pika!"

Ash began running towards the exit of Petalburg City, only to be halted by an Officer Jenny. "Sorry, I can't let you past here." She told him, holding out her palm.

He stopped running and widened his eyes in shock. Why did he have such bad luck?

"What?"

Jenny sighed, "I hope it's not too much of a disappointment, but until we've taken care of the problem in Petalburg Woods, you cannot proceed any further."

Intrigued to know what was stopping him, Ash raised a finger, about to ask a question when Brock bumped him to the side, "Hiiii Officer Jenny!"

Babs grabbed his shirt, pulling him back, "Cut it out!" She snapped; Sparrow shook her head in embarrassment.

Jenny turned back to Ash, "You and your friends are going to have to stay here until it's safe to enter the woods."

A collective sigh was heard, excluding Babs, who smiled smugly, "Oh well, what do you know? Let's get back to the hotel!" She chimed, taking the lead back to Petalburg. Suddenly, she felt Ash grab her jacket, and she looked back in irritation.

"We are leaving today." He firmly claimed. Babs slapped his hand off and gave him a rude look, "Are you deaf or something? Officer Jenny said we can't go into Petalburg Woods."

Sparrow stood beside Ash, "Hey sis, did I mention that there's a contest hall in Rustboro City?"

Perking up at the sound of 'contest', Babs softened her expression, "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

* * *

Against Jenny's orders, the four of them managed to find a different way into Petalburg Woods; it was a much more dangerous way too – no one ever took this entrance. The wilderness was at its wildest. Thorns, leaves, and crooked branches covered the path, which also faded away, replaced with grass. Ash was at the front, unfazed by the obstacles in his way, "We're making good progress."

Brock was wrestling with a thick branch, "Wish I could say the same."

Looking around, Sparrow noticed the light slowly turn to shade, "I'm not so sure we are in the right part of the woods."

Babs froze, "Are you saying we're lost?"

Suddenly, Sparrow looked up, an expression of confusion on her face. "I think I heard something." She said.

Everybody paused and began to listen, when they saw leaves rustling in a bush nearby. "Tree?" Treecko tilted his head in confusion while the others watched intently, some more scared while others slightly more puzzled.

Out of the bush, a trio of mushroom resembling Pokemon leaped out, eyeing them angrily. "Woah, what's that Pokemon?" Ash asked, reaching for his pokedex.

"Shroomish, the Mushroom Pokemon. It prefers damp places. By day it remains still in the forest shade. It releases toxic powder from its head."

The Shroomish began spraying an orange powder from the heads, startling the group. "Hey! We don't want to fight! Stop!"

They began coughing and spluttering and covered their mouths with their hands. "They're using a powerful spore on us, Ash! We can't reason with them; they obviously don't trust us. Let's just get out of here before we fall asleep," Sparrow managed to say in between violent coughs.

Trainers and their Pokemon began attempting to run out of the area, but Ash tripped on a Shroomish that had jumped in front of him, falling flat on his face. "Ow! Wait for me! My ankle…"

Most of Ash's friends couldn't hear him over the commotion, but his trusty Pikachu turned back to see his trainer struggling to get back to his feet. "Pika," he ran over to help Ash, but found himself feeling woozy, his head hurting and the world spinning around him. Stumbling backwards, his vision blurred, and both of them were no watch for the exhaustion that had suddenly overcome them, both falling into a deep slumber.

* * *

"Dose stupid Shroomish!" Meowth moaned, rubbing the back of his head where a large bump had sprouted, "Dunno how, but dey sure did a number on us!"

James mumbled in agreement. "I guess we shouldn't have gotten so greedy; there were way too many of them."

The trio continued to walk in no particular direction, when Jessie turned to Meowth angrily. "This was all your idea, Meowth, and look and the mess you've gotten us into," she shouted, waving an accusing finger at him.

Slightly intimidated, he waved his arms in defence. "Chill out, Jess! Look, maybe we didn't snag dem Shroomish, but who cares 'bout some measly Pokemon like them? Once de twerps arrive we can grab dat Pikachu and scram. Dat Treecko too if we're lucky and of course not forgetting dat bea-u-ti-ful Delcatty da twerpette's got with her!"

Jessie raised an eyebrow, "And how do we find the twerps in this dumb forest?"

James nodded sadly, "We've been wandering around here for ages and I swear I've seen the same tree stump about a dozen times."

"No we haven't; you mean the tree with the odd marking." Jessie reminded him.

He looked at his team mate. "What tree? We never passed a tree like that, let alone more than once," he said.

"Yes we have!"

The two of them began walking on ahead, but Meowth stopped, his ears perking up catching some noise close by. His hearing wasn't much better than Jessie or James', but they were usually bickering about some pointless subject like they were now that they easily missed things.

"Looks like we're in luck," he smirked.

They reached a clearing, which to Jessie and James' surprise, they almost bumped into Ash's travelling companions.

"Team Rocket!" Brock and Sparrow said simultaneously, as their group backed away.

"Team twerp!" Jessie and James countered, stumbling backwards. James almost trod on the talking Scratch Cat's tail, only, with his not very often used cat-like reflexes, he dodged out of the way quickly.

"Watch it, Jimmy," he said furiously, before turning his attention back to the others. "Looks like it is de twerps…minus one. Oh well, looks like we can't swipe Pikachu, but we sure can take your puny Pokemon!" His cheeks blushed dangerously red as he clambered clumsily over to Cherry, his eyes shaped like hearts, "We might be da crooks, but I think you've stolen my heart!"

Cherry felt her face burning up, unsure of what to say or do. At first, she had only really been teasing him, like she did when Pokemon were sometimes attracted to her, but they would give up as soon as she was out of bounds considering her trainer, yet this Meowth seemed to keep at it and was pretty funny, despite his unusual abilities. She giggled genuinely as his face lit up, until she saw Babs grabbing for her handbag, and whacking Meowth across the face with it. "Get away from my Cherry!"

Meowth rubbed his cheek, walking backwards to his friends and extending his claws, "Hand over dose Pokemon or we'll take dem!" he threatened.

Brock looked irritably at the trio. "We don't have time for you clowns; we have to find Ash!"

"Really? Well, it'd be a shame if we held you up," Jessie remarked, reaching for a pokeball before being interrupted by rustling in the bushes all around them. Out of them, Shroomish leaped, forming a circle to surround them.

"Not Shroomish!" They all cried in unison as they started spraying orange powder around the clearing. They covered their faces and realised that the Shroomish circle was not all that intimidating as they could just jump over them.

The trainers and Cherry could jump over the Shroomish easily enough, but this would prove as more of a challenge for the smaller Pokemon, though Treecko was sitting safely on Sparrow's hat, which only left Meowth. "Hey, guys, wait up," he called as he attempted to climb over a Shroomish, but it used tackle to knock him back towards the wall of Shroomish. The others hadn't heard him and left, and he could feel his eyelids drooping. "No!" Meowth suddenly shouted, using fury swipes on himself to stay conscious. It worked, but left him weak, falling to the ground as a Shroomish bit his tail and dragged him somewhere.

"Hey, hey! Lemme go right now!" Meowth demanded, but somewhat relieved that the pain from the biting was keeping him awake.

"Shroomish! Shroom shroomish." It replied, glaring at him angrily.

Meowth's eyes widened. "I was in your turf and now I'm gonna pay? What do you mean by that?" His question was only met with a grunt. "Uh oh, this don't sound good at all."

* * *

The pack of Shroomish eventually reached a ditch, which they threw Meowth in. "Hey! Lemme go! Lemme go! This is just… degrading." Meowth only just noticed that a familiar twerp and his Pikachu was in the ditch with him, making him jerk back in surprise. They were both asleep, and Meowth realised that this was the perfect opportunity to catch the Pikachu he had been tailing for so long, but he didn't have a shovel with him and the dirt walls were too muddy and slippery to climb, even if he used his claws. "Well, no point just watching dem sleep," he decided, and extending his claws, slashing them across their faces.

"OW!"

"KAAAAA!"

Meowth hid his paws behind his back, giving an innocent grin, "Oh, you're awake!"

Ash felt his left eye tear up and bit as he stroked his face, which was stinging from the slash. He looked over to Meowth, narrowing his eyes, "Meowth?" He asked, knowing it was him, just not understanding why he was there. The only light Ash could see was up above, at the top of the ditch. Remembering what had happened earlier, he gave a hard sigh and glanced at Pikachu, "We got caught."

Pikachu's ears drooped.

"Dat's right, so did I." Meowth butted in, "We gots to find a way outta here!"

Sitting up now, Ash nodded in agreement, "For once I agree with you, but how?" He asked in doubt, realising the ditch was quite deep.

"Pikaaa."

Meowth shook his head at both of them, "You guys are real bummers – dere has to be a way out!"

From up above, two Shroomish were looking down at the prisoners with anger in their beady little eyes. It did not look like they were releasing them anytime soon. The Scratch Cat Pokemon pondered to himself for a bit, but then closed his eyes tightly, frowning, "As long as those two are up dere, I don't see how we will make a smooth escape."

Ash grunted, whipping up to his feet, "HEY! Shroomish!"

The two Shroomish looked down.

"Why are you keeping us in this ditch?! What did we do?" Ash demanded to know, Pikachu too, "PIKA!"

"Shroomish shroom!" One argued.

The other nodded, "Shroom!"

Ash spun around to Meowth, "What did they say?"

He rolled his eyes, already informed on their crime, "Dey are accusing us of trespassing."

"Trespassing?"

The Shroomish both nodded in confirmation, causing Ash to frown, "But we didn't know we were in your territory! We promise we'll leave if your let us go!"

"Pika pi!" Pikachu added in support.

"Shroom Shroomish!"

Meowth translated, "He says dat you can't leave until dere boss says so."

"Shroom shroom!"

Meowth continued, "And dere boss is out on duty, so we'll have to wait 'till he gets back."

Fed up, Ash dropped back into a slumped position next to Pikachu, "Who knows how long that will take…"

"Just relax," Meowth told him, "Even if their stupid boss doesn't let us go I'm sure Jessie and James will find us – they would never leave me behind!"

Ash smiled, "Yeah, and I bet my friends are out looking for us too, right Pikachu?"

Pikachu raised his hands joyfully, "Pikachu!"

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest, the survivors were laying down on the ground, recollecting their breath. They had lost the Shroomish, but now it seemed they were lost too.

Sparrow crawled over to her sister, placing a hand on her shoulder, "You okay sis?"

"I think so…" Babs replied between breaths.

Everyone began getting on their feet again, eyeing one another, and the surroundings. The two members of Team Rocket got back into threatening stances, still set on stealing the young trainers' Pokemon. Jessie furrowed her brows, "Now where were we, hmm?"

"Stealing your Pokemon!" James clarified.

Suddenly, a silence filled the air. Jessie and James exchanged looks, then glanced downwards, realising someone was missing.

"Hey, where's Meowth?" Jessie questioned.

"Gone," Sparrow replied, "and probably in the same place as Ash. Truce?" She offered, extending out her hand for them to shake.

Jessie and James turned their backs to the group and began whispering to each other. "Think Meowth can make his own way back?" James asked.

"Not a chance," the pink haired Team Rocket member replied, "looks like we've got no other choice." They turned back towards the others, scowling. "Fine, twerps, we'll work together, but don't think this isn't temporary," she said, not shaking Sparrow's hand, "but whoever finds them first takes all."

"What? That's not fair!" Sparrow exclaimed.

Babs frowned at them, "How is this a truce with that logic?"

Brock shook his head and laid his palm on Sparrow's tensed shoulders, "Don't fret about it Sparrow, even if they do find them first, they have no chance against our Pokemon."

Sparrow nodded, "I guess you're right."

Cherry's face lit up; winner takes all? She knew that this would most likely result is Team Rocket blasting off, so would Meowth be joining them? The Delcatty figured what they meant by 'all' was the Pokemon, certainly not Ash, so would Meowth be with them? Maybe Babs might even approve of him if he was not a criminal anymore!

"Besides, we don't want Meowth!" They all shouted, even Treecko in Pokemon language, which made Cherry's ears droop.

"That's fine by us; he'd probably scratch your faces off anyways. Let me rephrase that; winners get Pikachu. Deal?"

Sparrow thought about Brock's advice, "Deal," she replied.

"So, where are we now?" Sparrow asked, causing the others' faces to fall; they had not thought about that.

Brock pulled a folded map out of his pocket and began examining it. "Ah, we're… lost. Seems like every time I travel with Ash we get lost anywhere."

Babs narrowed her eyes. "Great. More reason to hate him," she said bluntly, only to be eyed by Sparrow. Jessie and James watched in puzzlement, but did not comment.

"Those Shroomish must have done something with them," Brock reasoned, "but Pokemon don't usually do things like this. Do you think they could have been provoked in some way?" Automatically, they turned to Team Rocket angrily, jumping to the conclusion that they had something to do with it.

"What? We had nothing to do with this, really!" they cried in defence. Team Rocket had been attempting to catch some Pokemon, and when the Shroomish had jumped at them, they had nets ready, but the Mushroom Pokemon were already spraying their spores without warning, some even delivering painful headbutts.

Sparrow shrugged. "I guess they're just really territorial; because we didn't take the main entrance, we must have ended up in their ground. Wait a minute, how did you guys get in here when Officer Jenny wouldn't let anyone past?"

James shook his head, "There was no Officer Jenny as far as we could see."

Babs tapped her chin, "So what you're saying is the police restricted the area overnight and that this was not a problem before now? Sound fishy to me." She noted, leaning forward.

James smiled nervously, his mouth trembling. However, Jessie leaned in as well, with a sharp glare, "Watch your tongue you big mouthed twerpette – we have nothing to do with this."

"Whatever," Babs scoffed, "I couldn't care less if you were behind this anyway, what difference would it make? Your lives are shameful enough."

She walked off, with Sparrow and Brock following, leaving Jessie and James with their mouth hung open. They shook their heads and turned to the others leaving without them.

"The nerve!" Jessie stomped, "Get back here!"

"Yeah, wait for us!" James yelled.

* * *

Wurmple rolled around in the leaves, munching on a few. She had just woken up from her nap and was ready to make a fresh start to the day. Her routine was simple enough, search the forest for the juiciest berries she could find and bring them home for lunch. Needless to say, Wrumple had quite an appetite – any berry would do, really. Alas, the berries that filled her stomach could not ease the aching pain in her heart. She had hoped that her countless searches for food would result in something other than lunch – a friend. Someone to talk to. Other Pokemon could be so hostile, poor Wrumple was always left alone at the end of the day.

Today felt a little different, however. Wurmple could not exactly explain it, but she felt a wave of hope come over her. Wriggling onward, Wurmple was off, disappearing into the bushes.

Not far behind, the group of five were also on a search, for their friends. Sparrow was determined to find Ash, as well as Brock – they were both taking the lead. Babs kept her distance from Jessie and James; she did not trust them in the slightest.

"It a shame we can't contact Ash since he doesn't have a cell." Sparrow sighed.

"There would be poor reception in this rural area anyway." Brock remarked, causing Sparrow to nod, "Yeah, that's a good point."

"He brought this onto himself. What did Officer Jenny tell us not to do?" Babs asked rhetorically.

Everyone looked at her.

"That doesn't rule out the problem, sis." Sparrow responded, crossing her arms.

Babs snapped her fingers, "It's what started it though."

"So?"

Babs groaned at her sister's consistent support for Ash. It was bad enough that she would completely ignore her advice as an older sister, but she was sticking up for a trouble-making boy she only met the other day.

James looked over to Jessie, "Seems like the older twerpette doesn't care for the twerp at all, doesn't it?"

Jessie nodded, "Seems like it."

Babs rolled her eyes, "Mind your own business. You don't seem to care much for your Meowth since you were putting him up for trade earlier."

"That was obviously a scam you stupid girl! Of course we wouldn't sell out our teammate like that!" Jessie snapped at her.

Sensing an argument, Cherry and Treecko glanced at each other, exchanging looks of exasperation.

"Call me that again you wretched woman, and I'll swing you by your hair into a nettle bush!" Babs growled, not taking insults lightly.

Blind fury took over Jessie's body as she stomped toward Babs. The girl nearly jumped out of her skin, hiding behind Brock, who felt the urge to prove himself, "Don't worry Babs, I'll protect you!"

Sparrow felt a mix of worry and amusement, "Babs is all verbal, no physical. I knew this would happen one day." She said, jogging over to help her sister.

As Jessie got dangerously close, Sparrow jumped out in front of Brock, who was shielding Babs.

"Please calm down miss, my sister really didn't mean anything when she opened her massive mouth, honest!"

From behind Brock, Babs furrowed her brows.

"Let's just calm down and take deep breaths, okay?" Sparrow insisted, placing a hand on Jessie's arm.

Her body slowly relaxed and she let out the steam clogging her lungs. She looked down to Sparrow, "Calm now. That halfwit is lucky to have a sister like you."

Emerging into view, Babs snarled at her, "You're lucky I don't have Cherry double slap your ug-"

Her words were cut off by her sister's hand clasping around her mouth, "That's enough for today." She said; it especially annoyed Babs when Sparrow was acting like the older sister.

From above, on the branch of a tree, Wurmple was looking down at them, curious of their behaviour. The woman with pink hair, in particular, grabbed her attention. She slid further down the branch, getting closer to the group below.

"We can't have you two bickering – it's wasting time." Sparrow scolded.

James nodded, "Agreed."

Jessie elbowed him in his sides, causing him to exhale involuntarily.

"Please control your temper." Sparrow requested with pitiful eyes.

Jessie scowled, "Why twerpette? So everyone can push me around?"

"That's the idea." Babs mumbled under her breath.

Wanting to hear more, Wurmple crawled even further down the branch. It began to bend.

"No. So we can focus on rescuing our friends!"

"I'd rather look for Meowth myself than spend a second longer with you twerps!"

"Fine, do what you want!"

"I will!"

Suddenly, a snap of wood caused them all to jump in surprise. Jessie felt something strange land on her head; she froze. All eyes were on her, and she still had no idea what had just landed on her. Babs was holding back a laugh, chuckling into her hand, "Wurmple headwear is really in this season." She laughed, pointing at the bug type Pokemon on Jessie's head.

Jessie's eyes followed Babs finger to a Wurmple peeking down at her.

"Wurmp?"

"YIIIKES!" She squealed.

"Woah, calm down! It's only a little Wurmple." Sparrow identified, removing the Pokemon from her head, "A cute one too!" She added.

Jessie eyed it – nothing much stood out to her. The Wurmple faced her with eyes shining in awe, "Wurmple wurmp!"

"It think it likes you." Sparrow noted.

Brock walked up beside her, "Now the question is, which evolutionary line will this particular Wurmple take?"

Sparrow smiled, "That's right! You can never tell!"

Jessie raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

Sparrow handed the Wurmple back to her and took Treecko off her hat, "Take my Treecko for example – he has one evolutionary line with three stages, right?"

"Uh, right?"

Sparrow motioned toward the Wurmple, "But Wurmple here has two evolutionary lines with three stages – the second and final evolution can be one of two Pokemon."

Jessie got closer, "I'm listening."

"This Wurmple could either evolve into a Cascoon and then into a Dustox, or evolve into a Silcoon and then into a Beautifly." She concluded.

Jessie perked up, "A Beautifly? I've heard of those! What a darling Pokemon! I'll be sure to win every contest ribbon with a Beautifly!"

"Yeah right." Babs scoffed.

James tapped Jessie's shoulder, "You heard her right? Two evolutionary lines; you could get either."

"Butt out! Wurmple will be treated like a Beautifly and will evolve into a Beautifly! Got it?!"

Sparrow shook her head, "I don't think she gets it." She muttered.

"You think?" Brock added.

Babs picked up Cherry, gently patting her head, "Even if that Wurmple did evolve into a Beautifly it wouldn't stand a chance against Cherry in a contest."

"How about I take your Pokemon so my chances are doubled then?" Jessie hissed.

"You haven't even caught that Wurmple yet, set your priorities straight." Babs replied, placing a hand on her hip.

Raising her eyebrows in surprise, Jessie realised that Babs was right. She looked down to the Wurmple, who was lying back comfortably into her arms. Smiling, she took out a pokeball, "Alright Wurmple, you're going to be our newest member of Team Rocket, what do you say?"

She immediately wriggled in excitement, "Wurmple wurmple!"

She knocked her head against the centre of the pokeball and transported inside. The lid of the pokeball snapped shut, and began to roll around in Jessie's hand.

A click confirmed the catch and Jessie jumped up in exhilaration, "Ha ha! I caught a Wurmple!"

Babs clapped sarcastically and Sparrow gave up a thumbs up, "Great job! You made it look easy." She complimented.

"I know." Jessie cooed, flicking her hair.

Brock spoke up, "Okay guys, enough fooling around. We've got to find Ash and Meowth!"

"Right!" They said in union, running ahead.

* * *

"So we need to create a diversion then?"

Meowth nodded, "Yeah, got anything in mind twerp?"

Ash looked up in thought, but something caught his eye. He was staring at a stack of handmade wooden crates, filled with berries. The two guards were still alert and liable to sound an alarm. That was about to change. Ash sent out Mudkip and she stood in front of him, ready for action.

"Mudkip, in need your help to distract those two Shroomish guards." He whispered, "Think you're up for it?"

"Kip!"

Meowth and Pikachu looked at each other.

"What'cha going to do?" Meowth questioned.

Ash held Mudkip at an angle, aiming him toward the crates, "You're about to find out. Mudkip, use water gun."

A trail of water crashed into the crates, knocking them all over. Many berries sprawled across the floor, rolling in many different directions, and the crates collapsed pathetically into a damp pile.

The two Shroomish were shocked by the sudden event and instantly began gathering berries before they lost them.

"Yeah, okay, but now what?" Meowth asked, expecting a good answer.

"Mudkip return. Taillow, come on out!"

Ash exchanged Mudkip for Taillow, who was flapping above him.

"Taillow, you need to fly out of the Shroomish territory while the guards are distracted." Ash explained, "Try to find everyone else and lead them here."

Taillow nodded and swiftly flew out of the ditch, leaving through a gap in the tree, which exposed the sun's light.

"Dis better work." Meowth said, sitting back down.

"Pika pi!"

"Yeah, Taillow knows what she's doing!" Ash brightly claimed.

* * *

The group of temporary allies walked ahead, calling out their friends' names. "This is hopeless," James whined, "how do we find them if we don't even know what we're looking for?"

Babs blinked. "We're looking for them. What did you think we were doing this whole time?"

"No, I mean are we looking for some Shroomish to lead us to them, or are we looking for their den, or are we just looking specifically for them?" he attempted to explain.

Sparrow's eyes lit up. "Hey! I know what we can do! Jessie, send out Wurmple, please."

Staring blankly, the pink haired lady sent out her newly acquired Pokemon, who wriggled in joy for being called out.

"So, if Wurmple lives here – well, used to live here, then…" she trailed off, giving the others a chance to realise what she was trying to say.

Brock caught on first, and nodded his approval. "Wurmple should know where to find the Shroomish! Good thinking, Sparrow."

"Wurmp! Wurmple ple ple!"

The trainers looked at Wurmple vacantly; she had been stating directions, but didn't make any gestures as, being a wild Pokemon, didn't understand what gestures she had to use to communicate with humans. "Now's a time Meowth would actually come in handy."

"Tree!"

Sparrow looked up to her Pokemon, "You get Wurmple, right?"

Treecko jumped down, giving a nod.

"Well, let's get going then."

The group were led by Treecko down the route Wurmple had mentioned. Sparrow was running alongside Treecko, which made it seem like they were racing. The others trailed behind, looking out for Shroomish. The last thing they needed was another ambush.

From above, Taillow was scanning the ground for anyone who could provide help. A flash of red caught her eye – it was a Wurmple. She concluded that a snack would give her the energy to extend her search. Taillow dived down, targeting the vulnerable Wurmple below, who was completely oblivious to the incoming threat.

Sparrow was quick to notice the incoming attack and felt her heart rate shoot up, "Oh no!" She cried, bringing Treecko's attention to the situation.

She looked at him, "Quick, use pound to intercept that Taillow's attack!"

Her trustworthy Pokemon immediately dashed toward the Taillow, jumping up with his fist held back.

"Treeeecko!"

A powerful punch knocked Taillow to the right, away from Wurmple and her well-being. Taillow crashed into a tree, sliding down onto the ground as Sparrow ran up to it, concerned. She knelt down, suddenly feeling on edge, "Wait a second…don't tell me." Her eyes strongly analysed it, but her concentration was cut as the Brock called to her, "Sparrow, what's wrong?"

His eyes met Taillow's, with Babs joining them, "That's Ash's Taillow." She quickly noted.

Groaning, Sparrow dug her face in her hands, "I'm such an idiot!"

"Nothing new." Babs shrugged.

Brock raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean Sparrow?"

She took the Taillow into her arms, giving them both a look of pure guilt, "I thought it was just a regular Taillow trying to attack Wurmple, so I had ordered Treecko to use pound on her."

"But why would Taillow want to attack Wurmple?" Brock questioned.

"She must've been hungry." Sparrow replied, flinching as Taillow took flight out of her arms, "Taillow tail!"

"Hey, you must know where Ash is!" Brock realised, earning a nod from Taillow.

Team Rocket panted as they caught up, dropping to the floor, "Can you twerps perhaps slow down?" James pleaded.

"Sorry." Sparrow apologised, "We're about to get going again."

Jessie pushed pass everyone, placing her hands on her hips, "I'm leading this time!"

Babs rolled her eyes, "Actually, Taillow is leading."

"Whatever." Jessie hissed, returning Wurmple to her Pokeball, "Good job sweetie!" She sweetly praised.

The group turned to Taillow, who began to lead the way to the Shroomish hideout.

* * *

"I wonder if Taillow's found them yet," Ash pondered, Pikachu sighing in agreement.

Meowth yawned, resting against the ditch's dirty wall; he wasn't too worried about their what Jessie and James were up to, as he knew that they were looking for him, but he hoped that they had not done anything stupid, like teaming up with the twerps, though he knew that was exactly the sort of thing they would do. The new ones did not need to know that they were less of a threat than they made out to be, if they did not already. Suddenly, he heard loud footsteps from above, which made his ears perk up. "That must be them!" Ash shouted excitedly.

Much to their disappointment, it wasn't Ash's friends like he and Pikachu had hoped, or the rest of Team Rocket like Meowth had wanted. Instead, a tall kangaroo-like green and beige Pokemon was looking down at them, grimacing. On its head was a green cap, which somewhat resembled a mushroom.

The trainer looked at the Pokemon in amazement. "Woah, what's that?"

"Breloom, the Mushroom Pokemon, and the evolved form of Shroomish." Dexter stated as Ash pointed him at the Pokemon he could now identify as Breloom. "The seeds on its tail are made of toxic spores. It knocks out foes with quick, virtually invisible punches."

"The evolved form of Shroomish, huh," Ash said, looking at Meowth.

"I'd say dat thing's da leader of dem Shroomish," Meowth assumed before looking up towards the Breloom. "Just leave it to da negotiator. Ahem… HEY! GET YA GOONS TO LET US OUTTA HERE!"

Ash blinked in surprise at Meowth's definition of negotiating, but shrugged it off as considering how the Shroomish threw them in a ditch, reasoning wouldn't have much of an effect. "Yeah, let us out please! We didn't do anything! If we trespassed on your property, we didn't know, but I really need to go because I have a gym badge to earn!"

Breloom snarled, signalling them to stop talking and began ranting in its own language. When he had finished, Ash looked at Meowth for a translation, who looked severely upset, "Dis Breloom here says dat lately trainers have been wandering into their territory on der way to da next city. Normally dey wouldn't care, but lately dey've been trying ta catch some of da Shroomish in da forest! So they took drastic measures and scared de trainers away, and an Officer Jenny stopped letting trainers through so dey thought it was okay. _BUT THEN_ , two trainers and der Pokemon had _THE NERVE_ ta come and try ta capture _ALL_ of da Shroomish _and_ steal all their fruit by putting it in crates! So dey dug dis ditch ta punish dem evil trainers! Why would anyone do such a thing?"

"Well, I'm really sorry Breloom and I'm sure we can help, so can you please let us out?" Ash pleaded.

"Pika?"

"Bre!" the Pokemon refused, looking away from them.

Meowth had seemed to abandon his pity and raised a fist at the grass and fighting type Pokemon. "We're not dem people so just let us out already!" This only angered the Breloom more, which began shouting threats at them.

Out of the trees, a Taillow soared towards them, perching on Ash's shoulders. "Taillow! Did you find them?" Taillow chirped in agreement as figures began running at them, calling Ash's and Meowth's names respectively.

"Ash!" Brock called as he stopped at the ditch. "Are you okay?"

The capped trainer nodded. "We're fine, but we're having a hard time trying to convince these Pokemon to let us out."

Breloom began shouting something at them, making angry gestures. "Breloom says you'll have to battle for your freedom. Him and a Pokemon of your choice." Meowth translated.

"Then I choose you, Taillow!" Taillow took to the air glaring at her opponent menacingly.

Meowth, however, was not as pleased with Ash's choice as he was. "Why didn't you pick Pikachu? You know, da strongest Pokemon you have?"

Ash shook his head; it seemed to him Meowth did not understand the bond between trainer and their Pokemon, or at least did not want to.

"I trust Taillow and she trusts me; I know she will win this for us." Ash proclaimed, looking up to Taillow.

"Tell me when you've lost," Meowth stated bluntly, looking away. Pikachu growled at him for a moment before returning his gaze to Ash's chosen Pokemon: Taillow.

"Pika pika!" he shouted in support.

Breloom got into a fighting stance, beckoning Taillow to come closer, as the others looked on. "Taillow has the advantage in this battle; both grass and fighting are weak against flying."

Brock nodded, but seemed unsure. "That's true, but Breloom is a fully evolved Pokemon, and Ash only caught Taillow recently; who knows how much battle experience she's had? Maybe Meowth was right; grass may be resistant to electricity, but Pikachu's high speed could make it an easy win for them."

"Maybe," Sparrow agreed, biting her lip, only to be interrupted by James.

"Does all that stuff really matter? When chosen to battle, our Pokemon try their best!"

Brock and Sparrow were taken aback by his sudden comment, but couldn't help agreeing with him. How could they ever doubt Taillow? She would do anything to repay Ash as he had rescued her when she had hurt her wing, and would never fail in a situation like this. "Thank you," Sparrow said genuinely, "I should have never forgotten that."

Despite the battle beginning before her, Cherry couldn't help but smile at James; although he had earlier tried to capture them, anybody who believed in that had to have some good in their heart. Besides, he was a friend of that charming Meowth.

* * *

Taillow soared down towards the Breloom, angered by his beckoning, squealing a high pitched battle cry, "Tailloooowwww!"

Her beak was piercing through the wind, aimed at the Breloom, who seemed to be preparing for a move.

"What's it doing?" Jessie asked the group.

Brock make a rapid guess, "It seems to be bracing itself."

"Or planning an attack!" Sparrow yelled in surprise as Breloom unleashed a powerful uppercut into Taillow's jaw, "That Breloom used Sky Uppercut!" She clarified, panicked.

Taillow was launched upwards into the sky by the attack, with her eyes drooping as she felt herself grow weak; Treecko's attack from earlier was no help. Ash could sense Taillow was giving up too soon and shouted out to her, "Taillow! Don't give up!"

"PIKA!"

She snapped her eyes open, her pupil constricting as Ash refuelled her determination. Whirling around, she soared back down to Breloom from behind and plunged a peck attack into its back, causing it to cry in pain, "LOOOM!"

It was forcefully pushed forward, landing face first to the ground. Taillow seized the opportunity to use a wing attack, which directly inflicted severe damage on the Breloom, who laid down, defeated.

Everyone, including the surrounding Shroomish, watched in shock. Babs was dumbfounded, "I-I never knew Taillow was so strong willed…"

However, as soon as she said this, Taillow fainted to the ground, worn out. Sparrow rushed up to her, picking her up from the ground, "We need to take her to a Pokemon Center."

"We also need to free Ash and the others." He reminded her.

The group rushed up to their trapped friends, who were staring up at them.

"Ash, you're all right!" Sparrow cheered.

"Sure am!" He said, catching a glimpse of Taillow, "You were amazing out there Taillow!"

She gave him a weak smile, her eyes hardly open.

"Jessie! James! I knew yous two would show up!" Meowth praised.

"As if we could leave you behind," Jessie remarked, "we'd never hear the end of it."

Babs raised an eyebrow at how soppy they were all becoming. "Well, sorry to spoil the moment, but they're still in there."

"Oh, right," Ash murmured.

Fortunately for our heroes and Team Rocket, Breloom was a step ahead of them, snapping a command to a group off Shroomish who scurried off further into the forest. In no time at all, the Shroomish returned pushing forward fruit crates.

"Fruit? How is that going to help?"

In a way of responding to Jessie's question, the Shroomish began arranged the crates like a staircase that the trapped trainer and Pokemon could use to climb out, and their minds were set on doing so.

Ash nodded at Breloom, smiling. "Are these the crates that the trainers were using to take your fruit?"

Breloom put his hands on his hips smugly, proud to show off that he had recovered the fruit in the same way he boasted to the Shroomish, when suddenly, something about two of those trainers caught his eye. A lavender haired male, a pink haired female, and now he looked closely that Pokemon who was in the ditch looked very familiar. Could they be...?

"Bre bre!" Breloom shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Team Rocket. The Shroomish looed scared for a moment before readying themselves in fighting stances. Pikachu, Treecko and Taillow, all of which could understand Breloom's language, looked angrily at the trio. Cherry, on the other hand, stared sadly at them.

"Huh? What is he saying, Meowth?" Ash asked.

Despite not being Pokemon, Jessie and James knew what was bothering Breeloom, and grinned devishily. "Breloom's saying that we're the ones who tried to take the Shroomish and berries! Ya didn't really think I'd feel sympathy for it's stupid sob story, did ya?"

"This is no big surprise, Team Rocket! You always do something like this!" Brock said, crossing his arms.

"What's done is done, twerp." Jessie said. "Oh, and you haven't forgotten our deal, have you? We found them first because _I_ was leading so you have to hand over Pikachu, pronto!"

"And we'll be taking some fruit for our trouble," James added as he and Meowth picked up a fruit crate each.

Sparrow narrowed her eyes. "You weren't leading! Taillow was!"

"That dumb bird doesn't count because she doesn't belong to you twerps, she belongs to the leader twerp! Forget this! Looks like I'll just have to take Pikachu myself with my newest Pokemon, and I can't possibly loose this time. Go my darling Wurmple!"

Jessie threw a pokeball, releasing her latest catch. "Wurmple!" It chimed.

Only seconds after releasing her, Jessie scooped Wurmple up and hugged her affectionately. "You're just too cute to battle!"

James and Meowth stared at her in surprise before James asked frantically, "What are you doing?"

"Can't you do that later? That thing needs to battle now!"

Ash blinked in surprise and reached for his pokedex. "Wurmple, the Worm Pokemon. It lives amidst tall grass and in forests. When attacked, it resists by pointing its venomous spikes at the foe."

"So Team Rocket's got a new Pokemon..."

During this time, Breloom had only got more and more angry, and began firing up a Mach Punch, his fist glowing a gleaming white. "Uh oh," the members of Team Rocket said simultaneously, before being hit by the raging Pokemon.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off agaaaaaain!"

"Wobbuffet!" Wobbufet exclaimed, bursting out of his pokeball.

They all watched as Team Rocket became as small as a star in the distance, when Ash noticed something. "Hey! The day is almost over!" He rubbed his eyes, trying not to believe it, but the sky stayed a blurry red colour.

"Yeah Ash, didn't you notice? You were in that ditch for a pretty long time." Sparrow answered.

"But… what about my gym badge?"

"That will have to wait until tomorrow, Ash." Brock said.

Babs yawned, not as bothered about Ash's precious gym badge as he was. "Good. Can we go back to Petalburg now?"

Brock shook his head. "It will be dark soon, we'll have to camp out here."

"WHAT? You must be insane if you think I'm sleeping out here!"

Ash took this to his advantage, "I agree with Babs, let's go to Rustboro now!"

"There are so many creepy bug Pokemon!"

"I need to be ready to battle the gym!"

"I want to sleep in a hotel!"

"It's going to take all day tomorrow to get to Rustboro so let's get a head start now!"

And so, the day trailed off as they argued and argued, but our heroes eventually saw sense and set up camp. What adventures could be for awaiting them tomorrow?

* * *

 **Sorry that this chapter took so long, but at least it's up now. Don't forget to leave a review!**


	6. A Ditch in Time!

**Author's Note: If you'd like to see your OC appear in the story, PM me and I'll give you further details on the requirements.**

* * *

The sun was high in the sky, signalling it was late in the morning, and our heroes had already woken up and started the day.

All but one, that is.

Feeling the sun on his face, Ash reluctantly opened his eyes, still not wanting to get up, before remembering that he had his first gym badge of the Hoenn region to earn. He sprung out of bed and madly dashed around the tent to see Sparrow and Brock battling, while Babs and Pikachu were watching from the sides. As soon as they noticed Ash, they instantly paused their battle. "Finally woken up, Ash?" Sparrow asked.

"You guys shouldn't be battling, even if it is early. We need to start heading to Rustboro so I can get my gym badge!" Ash bitterly complained. "Um, what time is it anyways?"

Brock looked up at the sun in the sky, seeming thoughtful. "I'd say it's about 11:00 AM."

"Wha-? Is it that late?" Ash exclaimed, then hurried back to his tent to get changed.

"Think we can still finish our battle?" Sparrow asked Brock, to receive a nod. She looked to her Pokemon to see if he was still up to battling, and he gave her a confident thumbs-up.

"Okay then, Treecko, use pound!" Treecko was puzzled by Sparrow's command, knowing that a normal move wouldn't do much against Brock's Pokemon, his Forretress, but followed her command anyways. Just as she had predicted, Treecko's force sent Forretress spinning backwards, but way more than she had anticipated. In fact, Forretress went spiralling into the bushes, followed by a crash and a high pitched "Ow!"

Babs, Brock and Sparrow looked at each other uncertainly, wondering what they should do. Ash poked his head out of the tent, wondering what all the noise was about. After a moment, Forretress returned, with an irritated woman wearing a big coat trailing after it. "Is this your Pokemon?" she asked.

Instantly, Brock reached for the lady's hand, kneeling before her. "Did my Forretress knock you down from heaven, because you look like an angel!"

"We're sorry, ma'am," Sparrow apologised, "we were just having a Pokemon battle and-"

"That's okay," the stranger said, brushing off Brock's hand. "I'm glad to see some people here. Who are you, anyway?"

Ash returned to the group, wearing his usual clothing, excited to introduce himself, "I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town! This is Sparrow," he gestured towards her, "that's Babs," he pointed at Babs, "and-."

"I'm Brock, at your service!" Brock reached for her hand again, but she now had it stroking her chin, looking reflective. "Brock, I like the name, it reminds me of one of my dear loves," she said happily.

Brock's face sank, and he crouched in despair. "At least it wasn't a rude way of saying 'I'm taken'…"

"What?" For a moment she seemed to be recalling what she had said, then burst out laughing. "Oh, no! That's not what I meant! Anyways, I'm… Roxie!"

"Ah, a beautiful name for a beautiful woman!" Brock said, jumping in glee.

Babs narrowed her eyes at the woman sceptically, not trusting her at all, especially from the fact that she had to hesitate before saying her name. "Well, _Roxie,_ Officer Jenny isn't allowing any people in the forest, so how come you're here?"

"I suggested to the Officer Jenny of Rustboro City that I come here to sort out the Shroomish problem, and she agreed. So, why are you guys here?" Roxie smirked at the final part, not particularly awaiting an answer but just wanting to turn Babs' question against her to prove her point.

Babs expression went blank as she froze up, before turning to Ash. "He dragged us into it."

"Did not!"

"Stop acting like a baby! We had to follow you because you sneaked inside, though it's not like I even wanted to."

Worried that Roxie could report them to the authorities, Sparrow decided to interrupt their argument. "Roxie, we fixed the Shroomish problem! Actually it was Ash's Taillow who did all the work. Turns out the Shroomish

were mad because people were trying to catch them, but they're not anymore." She put her arm around Ash, urging him to continue.

"Oh right! Taillow was great!" He reached into a pocket and pulled out Taillow's Pokeball, throwing it into the air as the normal flying type Pokemon burst out and chirped joyfully.

"Tai tai!"

"Your Taillow took on a whole tribe of Shroomish? Impressive," Roxie congratulated him.

Ash grinned widely and was about to correct her before Babs cleared her throat to interrupt, "Actually, Taillow only needed to defeat their leader, a Breloom, not the whole tribe."

"That's still a very impressive feat, as Breloom is a fully evolved Pokemon," she stopped to smile at Ash, "you must be a very strong trainer, Ash Ketchum."

Ash beamed, then suddenly realised something. "You must be a strong trainer too, if Officer Jenny let you in the forest. How about we battle?"

"Are you heading to Rustboro?"

He was taken aback by the question, since he had expected an answer but nodded all the same. "Um, yeah, we are."

"Any reason why?"

"I want to earn my first gym badge of the Hoenn region! It's in Rustboro city so I want to get there soon, but I think my Pokemon should get bit more experience first. So… will you battle with me?"

Roxie shook her head at that. "Then I'm afraid there's a better time and place for our battle, how about we head to Rustboro city?" She suggested.

"Oh, okay."

He sounded disappointed yet pleased.

They all began to follow the lady as she led the way. Brock turned to his Forretress, "Let's go Forretress!"

"Forr forr."

* * *

Team Rocket were exhausted. Naturally, they had spent their entire morning setting up a trap for their victims. However, they had only woken up an hour ago, and someone was not helping out too much.

"Put your backs into it! The twerps will be here soon!"

James and Meowth were sweating like crazy as they dug; they were used to it, but the sun was blazing today. James rubbed a few beads of sweat from his forehead, "Think you could help, Jessie?"

"Yeah, dis pit is likely to be my grave if I keep digging." Meowth groaned.

Jessie rolled her eyes obnoxiously, "I am helping! By keeping lookout, of course. Somebody's got to do it."

"Well how about ya actually look _out_ instead of lookin' at us, Jess?"

The pink haired woman set her line of vision back on the stretched path leading into the forest. The light brush of wind would curve the leaves, and bend the flowers, however, Jessie saw a peculiar movement from some nearby branches. They appeared to be snapping, out of force.

"Uh oh, I think we have company."

James and Meowth looked up, "Huh?"

The shadows of five humans emerged onto the ground, slowly growing closer to their owner.

"Hurry! Lay the cover!" Jessie snapped, jumping behind a bush.

The two team members scurried out of the pit, laying a cover of grass in its place. Just in the nick of time, they had joined Jessie as Roxie appeared with the others. Snickering, the three villains watched as the group of five unknowingly approached their trap.

"And to think that Pokemon here can maintain such a structured lifestyle within a varied community. It's extremely fascinating!" Sparrow blabbered enthusiastically, "It really makes you wonder how different Pokemon manage to survive and adapt, doesn't it?"

Roxie smiled at the question, "You seem to be very interested in wild Pokemon, Sparrow."

"You could say that." She said, returning the smile.

Babs yawned rather loudly, "How far away is this place?"

"We're nearly there!" Roxie proclaimed, "Just five more minutes and-"

Her last word was cut short as she let out a sharp yelp, along with the other four. Dust was scattered everywhere and everyone coughed, holding their hands to their mouths. Ash was the first to stand, looking up to realise he was in a ditch, "Not again!" He cried.

"Pikaaaaa!"

Cackles of joy caused Brock's brows to furrow, "Ugh, I think we all know who's behind this."

"Prepare for trouble, we've got the upper hand."

"And make it double, you're all below land."

"An evil as old as the galaxy!"

"Sent here to fulfil our destiny!"

Meowth jumped forward, "Don't forget meee!"

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all peoples within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Meowth's da name!"

"Whenever there's peace in the universe, Team Rocket will be there to make everything worse!"

Wobbufet burst out on cue, "Wobbuffet!"

Without a doubt, everyone was irritated – apart from Roxie, who was confused, "Um…Team Rocket?"

Brock crossed his arms, "They're Pokemon thieves! Nothing good about these guys."

"Dat's right! Now hand over all your Pokemon pronto!" Meowth ordered.

Sparrow scoffed, "Or what?"

"Treecko!"

James hardened his glare, "Or we'll…we'll uh…" He quickly lost himself and Jessie took over, "Well how were we supposed to get that far! We weren't expecting you to show up so early!"

"Neither was I to be honest." Babs said, rubbing her tired eyes.

With the situation all taken in, Roxie put a hand on her hip and glared at Team Rocket disapprovingly, "You're not getting any Pokemon, whether you like it or not!"

Jessie huffed, "Well you're getting a Wurmple attack whether you like it or not!"

The pokeball cracked open and a Wurmple landed inches away from the pit. Panicked, it scooted behind Jessie, who immediately took pity, "Auwh, poor Wurmple was frightened by those horrible twerps." She cooed, picking her Pokemon up.

James shook his head, "Jessie please, this really isn't the time or place."

The sound of Ash's grunts caught their attention as he climbed out of the pit, along with Sparrow. Pikachu jumped off his shoulder, and Treecko jumped off Sparrow's hat.

"Alright Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu charged up, unleashing a deadly strike of bolts toward Team Rocket, but before it could hit them, a blue barrier blocked the attack and sent it right back to Ash and Pikachu, blasting them backwards and into the pit. Jessie, James and Meowth all opened their eyes to see that Wobbuffet had countered the attack using Mirror Coat.

"Ha! Take that!" James taunted.

Sparrow peered down to see an unconscious Ash and Pikachu, "Oh great…" She sighed, turning back to Team Rocket, "I guess it's up to me."

From below her, Babs, Brock and Roxie were still in the ditch, with Brock and Roxie trying the revive Ash and Pikachu, "Ash! Ash!" Brock yelled, to no avail.

Roxie was lightly tapping Pikachu's head, receiving no response, "They're completely out." She said, looking disappointed.

Babs watched, becoming more bothered every second. She rested a hand on the wall of the ditch and rapidly recoiled, in an act of surprise. The surface was sharp, pointed and had dug into her skin. The baffled girl eyed it, realising it was a rock like no other, "What is that?" She asked out loud.

Roxie walked up to her, "What is what?" She questioned, glancing at the bizarre looking rock, "Oh my!"

Babs raised her eyebrow at Roxie's outburst, "Hm?"

"Do you even know what you've just found?"

In truth, Babs was entirely unsure. However, she did not want to appear stupid, "Uh, yeah it's a…pointed rock."

"Yes, well, no – that was vague. It's a fossil!"

Brock appeared seemingly out of nowhere, "Fossil? Where?"

The two girls stepped out of the way, giving Brock a clear view of the ancient rock. Excitement took over him in an instant, "Wow! What a beauty of a fossil!" He exclaimed, clasping his hands together, "Uh, not that it could compare to either of you two ladies." He added sheepishly.

Babs looked unimpressed, "Thanks for the complement, Brock." She said sarcastically.

"No one has ever compared me to a fossil before, how flattering!" Roxie responded without Babs' sarcastic tone; she appeared to be genuinely grateful. She turned her attention back to the fossil, "How do you suppose we get it out?" She queried.

As soon as the idea whipped into his head, Brock threw a pokeball up into the air, "I have an idea!"

Forretress broke out of the pokeball, landing too close to Babs, causing her to back away. Brock gave his Pokemon a pat on the head, "Okay Forretress, we need to get this fossil out of the ground without damaging it."

"Forr for."

Brock smiled, "Alright! Forretress, use Rapid Spin gently underneath the fossil!"

The Forretress began spinning rapidly while slowly approaching the earth underneath the fossil. Roxie gave an impressed look as Brock's Forretress dug through the dirt without issue.

"Stop!"

Forretress stopped spinning as something light brown rolled underneath him. Brock picked it up, rubbing stray bits of soil off of it. Babs and Roxie occupied either side of him, gawking at the pointed fossil.

"It's got a wonderful shape." Roxie commented pleasantly.

"It's pretty pointed." Babs clarified.

The sound of Sparrow tumbling down the pit caught their attention. Babs gasped in horror, dashing over to her sister, "Sparrow! Are you okay?!"

"Ugh, just a scratch." She shrugged, brushing herself off.

"Are you actually serious?" Babs fumed, feeling herself get red in the face, "That's it, you're not continuing your battle with them!"

Sparrow crossed her arms smugly, "Then Treecko will."

Meowth and Treecko were staring it out. The scratch cat Pokemon was still holding his grudge against Treecko as he had lost against him last time they battled.

"Dis time, I'll win! And you'll be da latest addition to de boss' collection." He threatened.

Treecko did not react, only readying himself for combat. Meowth did not take the gesture lightly, "FURY SWIIIIIPES!"

He sprang for the grass type, but once again he swiftly dodged the attack, causing Meowth to fall into the ditch, landing onto Babs. Already angry, Meowth's unexpected landing had tipped her anger over the edge as she whacked him across the face with her handbag, sending him shooting into the sky without his team.

Jessie gasped, "Meowth blasted off without us!"

"This couldn't possibly get any worse." James stated, mentally taking back his words as he saw a furious Babs jump out of the ditch with Forretress in her grasp.

"YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR HURTING MY SISTER!"

Jessie and James screeched as Babs flung Forretress directly in their direction.

Under pressure, Forretress self-destructed just as he hit the last two members of Team Rocket. The ground shook as Jessie and James both blasted off after Meowth, "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off agaaaaain!"

"Wobbuffeeeeet!"

Until the remaining members of Team Rocket were nothing more than a speck in the sky, Babs could not relax. "Wow," Sparrow commented.

"What else was I supposed to do?"

Sparrow bit her lip, sure, Babs had gone overboard, but it was for her safety, and she didn't want to provoke her. "So, is um, Ash okay?" Roxie and Brock managed to pry their gaze away from the fossil to look at Ash and Pikachu.

Just at that moment, they seemed to be regaining consciousness, their eyelids flickering open. "Huh? What happened?"

"Run in with Team Rocket, they knocked you two unconscious." Brock explained.

Ash blinked for a moment as Pikachu's ears drooped. "Really? That sucks!"

They had all managed to climb up the ditch, joining Babs. Just as Brock was about to ask about his Forretress, the Pokemon himself came trailing back, looking a little disturbed. Babs frowned, feeling guilty, "I'm so sorry Forretress. I didn't mean it."

Forretress gave an understanding nod, "Forretress."

Roxie decided that it was time to get going and set off back in the direction of Rustboro City.

* * *

"Yes! Rustboro city!" Ash exclaimed as he ran into the city.

Brock chuckled. "Typical Ash."

"He always does this?" Babs asked, sighing. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pokeball. "Ugh, I hate having to travel with idiots. Anyways, come out Cherry."

In a beam of red light, Babs' beloved Delcatty appeared, mewing in delight. "Del del!"

Roxie blinked at the newest Pokemon, examining its strange colouring. "Does your Delcatty happen to be shiny?" She questioned. Ash's eyes widened at the thought of Babs having a rare Pokemon; not exactly being familiar with Hoenn Pokemon, he hadn't even realised it.

"No, actually. Cherry's fur is just dyed." Baba said simply, shrugging.

Ash drooped his shoulders sagging. "Aw, you got me hopeful there! Oh well, I want to challenge the Gym Leader now!"

"Hold up, Ash!" The determined boy was interrupted by their newest friend, Roxie. "Don't you want to come and revive this fossil with us first?" She gazed over at the fossil, seeming fascinated by it.

Brock and Ash seemed surprised by what she had said. "I thought you had to go to some special place with scientists and stuff to revive fossils," Ash mumbled, tilting his head.

"Well, it just so happens that Rustboro has one of those 'special places with scientists and stuff to revive fossils'."

Sparrow nodded. "Devon corp., right? I've heard that that place has some pretty interesting products made by Mr Stone."

"Right, and you can even ask Mr Stone himself, because I happen to be acquainted with him." Sparrow's jaw dropped in shock, before she began running off in the direction of Devon corporation, dragging them all along with her.

"C'mon guys! Let's go check it ou-." She suddenly stopped in her tracks when she became face to face with a man standing outside of Devon corp.

The man's eyes lit up when he saw Roxie. "Ah, hello there, Roxanne! If you and your friends were wanting to come inside, I'm afraid we were just closing, but I'm sure I can make an exception for you all. Did you sort out the Shroomish problem?"

"Actaully, it was my new friends who did all the work." She replied, but seemed slightly embarrassed, her cheeks pinker than usual. Sparrow assumed that her full name was Roxanne but she did not like being called it, or that she was ashamed that she couldn't fix the Shroomish problem herself, as she couldn't think of any other reasons why she would be embarrassed. The girl also noted that the name sounded familiar to her, but she couldn't think of where she had heard it before, so she dismissed the whole thought.

Mr Stone looked at them in surprise. "Really? The please come in! Those Shroomish have been bothering tourists so we haven't had as many visitors lately. Allow me to thank you by showing you around. What are all your names?"

Ash brightened at the chance to introduce himself. "I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!"

"I'm Brock!"

"I'm Babs; I've designed outfits for winning participants of Pokemon contests. I'm sure you've heard of me." She bragged.

The man smiled nervously, unsure how to respond. "Um, can't say I have, sorry." Babs looked astonished for a second before shrugging and murmuring a 'whatever'.

"Yeah, I'm Sparrow, uh, Mr Stone?" Sparrow interrupted.

"Yes?"

"Is Steven here?"

He was initially surprised by the off topic question, but Mr Stone shook his head all the same, smiling. "You want some battling tips, huh? Sorry, Sparrow, he's out exploring a cave for some interesting stones and fossils."

Ash had never heard of this Steven, but he liked the sound of him. Maybe they would bump into each other sometime. "What a coincidence, Mr Stone!" Roxie, or Roxanne, rather, shouted excitedly, producing the fossil. "We've found one of our own!"

Mr Stone's eyes widened as he examined the stone. "Wow, looks like you've found a Claw Stone there! Those are really rare; where did you find this?" He asked, amazed.

"In a ditch." Babs confirmed rather bluntly.

The owner of Devon corp. coughed rather unsubtly. "If you don't mind me asking, what were you doing in a ditch?" Roxanne chuckled and brushed it off as 'a long story'. Mr Stone led our heroes to a strange looking machine which he called The Fossil reviver. "Just place the fossil in here, and it will be revived!"

Roxanne handed the fossil over to Brock who placed it into the machine, and when Mr Stone pressed the button, he and the others were surprised by a flashing white light. In the fossil's place, there was a green and black shrimp like Pokemon, looking at them in amazement.

"Woah, that was so fast! You would have missed it if you blinked!" Ash exclaimed, giving the creature a shock.

Roxie hushed him, "Shh, you'll scare the little guy."

Its eyes were shooting around the room in rapid movements, as if targeting everything it saw. Among the six people looking down at it, the prehistoric Pokemon's stare landed harshly on Brock, who was slowly approaching it.

"Hey there, I'm Brock. I recovered you from a fossil!" He explained, hoping the creature would understand.

From behind him, his Forretress was keeping a close eye, sceptical of the newly arrived Pokemon. Cautiously, Brock raised his hand to pet the Pokemon, but it tensed up, "Rrrrrith."

Before he could think about retrieving his hand, the fossil Pokemon sprung at him, furiously swiping his dagger-like claws.

"AHHHHH!"

Everyone gasped as Brock flung back. Forretress barged past them, getting in front of his trainer. Both bug Pokemon were audibly arguing; Ash whipped out his Pokedex, taking the opportunity to analyse the provoked prehistoric Pokemon.

"Anorith, the Old Shrimp Pokemon. It is a kind of Pokémon progenitor. It uses its extending claws to catch prey hiding among rocks on the seafloor."

Back on his feet, Brock had taken in the Pokedex's words, "Those claws really sting." He cringed, rubbing his arm, "This Pokemon is much more hostile than I thought it would be."

"Perhaps Anorith is distressed over the unfamiliar surroundings and felt the need to protect itself." Sparrow suggested.

Ash looked over to the Anorith, sensing a competitive spirit from the creature, "I think it wants to battle."

All of them turned to him, questioning his theory. Mr Stone scratched his chin, "What gives you that impression, young trainer?"

"Anorith's eyes say it all, it really wants to see what Brock's got!"

"Pika!"

Brock noticed that Ash had a point – this Anorith looked extremely prepared for a brawl. Its beady eyes were squinted dangerously and its claws were out and ready to strike.

"Is that true Anorith? Do you want to battle?"

Anorith perked up, "Rith! Rith!"

Forretress was anticipating an order from Brock – he wanted revenge.

"Forretress? Do you want to battle against Anorith?"

"Forretress!"

That was all Anorith needed. It bared its hooked claws as it lunged toward Forretress, "Riiith!"

Brock knew how to respond, "Forretress, use Rapid Spin!"

Just as Anorith was about to dig its claws into its opponent, Forretress whirled around, sending Anorith flying backwards. The ancient bug Pokemon crashed to the ground, instantly getting back up, "ANORITH!"

Roxie chucked, "Wow, that little guy is determined to win."

A few seconds later, Forretress had to stop spinning before he got too dizzy. Brock did not want Anorith to make the next move, "Okay Forretress, tackle attack!"

Anorith waited for Forretress to get close enough before leaping on top of it, using its front teeth to dig into his scalp. Forretress cried in pain, feeling the urge to use a powerful move.

"Forretress! Try shaking it off!"

Listening to his trainer, Forretress attempted to use another Rapid Spin, only feeling Anorith bit down harder on it.

"TREEEESSS!"

A realisation hit Babs a little too late, "Forretress can't take the pressure! He's about to-"

The city shook as a shattering noise echoed from Devon corp., startling anyone close enough to feel the violent vibrations hit them. Within the building, Forretress stood alone as everyone else had been forced to a different corner of the room. Nothing had been destroyed, however, everyone was left with frizzy hair and ashy faces. Forretress sluggishly approached Brock, checking to see if he was alright, "Forr…" He apologised, softly nudging him.

"It's alright, heh." He sighed, being the first to stand up.

Ash blinked in surprise. "I didn't know that Forretress' self-destruct was that powerful!"

Brock shrugged sheepishly. "While we were in Johto, Forretess learnt a new move: explosion. Is everybody okay?" He added, feeling that it was his fault that he had put Forretress under pressure.

"I'm okay," Sparrow said, before glancing over to the fossil Pokemon, "can't say the same for Anorith, though."

With the intensity of the moment, they had completely forgotten about the ancient Pokemon, and turned to see it unconscious from being so close to Forretress' explosion attack, yet almost immediately it regained consciousness. It seemed defeated and nodded silently at Brock, accepting the fact that it had lost the battle.

"Hey, little guy, don't seem so down. You win some, you lose some." Anorith tilted its head, not understanding the concept. "Anorith, maybe I could show you what I mean by letting me capture you?" The prehistoric Pokemon's eyes flickered in delight; if that Forretres was strong enough to defeat it, surely he could make it that powerful too? Anorith squealed and bounded around happily, despite his adamant nature and battle instincts he was allowing himself to be caught. "Okay, go pokeball!" Brock hurled a pokeball at Anorith, who seemed startled by the unfamiliar object, but didn't have time to react before the pokeball bounced off of it.

Anorith disappeared into the pokeball in a gleam of red light, and it landed on the ground.

It shook once, then twice, and on the third shake, there was a loud 'ping!'

"Looks like I caught a new Pokemon, Anorith!"

"Forr for!"

Brock's friends all congratulated him as he sent out his newly caught Pokemon, who appeared to be happy enough but slightly bemused. "Riith?" It questioned.

"Cool! I want to battle your Anorith soon, Brock." Ash announced, grinning.

Pikachu nodded in agreement. "Pika pi."

"Oh? I thought you wanted to battle me Ash." Roxanne said.

"Huh? I thought you said 'there's a better time and place for that?"

Roxanne grinned, before whipping off her coat, revealing her clothing, a black and grey mini dress. This meant nothing to the others, but Sparrow's eyes glimmered in shock. "How did I not realise earlier? You're Roxanne, Gym Leader of Rustboro City!"

Ash gasped as Roxanne nodded. "Really? I wish I'd battled you then so I could see your Pokemon, but I bet I could still beat you!" he grinned mischievously, "It was me and Taillow who fixed the Shroomish problem, wasn't it?"

"Oh, shut up," Babs muttered under her breath.

The gym leader laughed. "Of course, Ash. So, we can schedule our battle for tomorrow? That's a Sunday so I won't be teaching my school."

The Pallet town trainer looked surprised once more, "You teach and run a gym? That's so cool!" he beamed at her. "We can definitely battle tomorrow; I can't wait to get my first gym badge!"

"Oh, no no _no!_ " Sparrow's sister interrupted, her hands on her hips, "The contest spectacular is tomorrow and I need to enter. You can have your battle sometime else!" Despite not being an aggressive person, Ash growled at Babs, fed up of her rudeness, as well as Pikachu.

"Treecko tree!" Treecko cried from upon Sparrow's hat, trying to keep the peace.

"Hey, I'm sure we can work this out!" A frantic Brock desperately tried to reason. "You can both do your things, Ash can go with someone to the gym and Babs can go with someone to the contest, okay?"

Sparrow stepped in, "Count me out of the contest business. Sorry Babs, you've dragged me into watching enough contests to last me a lifetime." Her attempt to crack a joke was only glared down by an angry Babs.

"Looks like I'm with you, Babs." Brock said. "Heh, so, are you into those kind of clothes that show off your- AAAAGH!" Babs was about to pounce on Brock, only for Anorith to decide that it needed some attention, digging in its claws.

Roxanne chuckled at their situation. "So, is it a deal?" She asked, offering him a hand.

"Deal!"

* * *

 **A short but sweet chapter! I'm glad how this story is progressing so far. If you want to leave a review go ahead! The next chapter will introduce an OC that has been sent in.**


	7. A Rocky Start!

****Author's Note: If you'd like to see your OC appear in the story, PM me and I'll give you further details on the requirements.****

* * *

The Rustboro shopping mall was always busy on Sunday; many different people with many different shopping lists swarmed the place. Out of all of them, Babs had the largest list on her hands, therefore feeling justified to barge through the crowds of people in her way. Struggling to keep up, a panicked Brock called out to her, "Babs?! Where'd you go?!"

Her hand shot out of nowhere, pulling him into a safe zone. They had arrived at the front door of the clothes store.

"This is where we are going to get the materials I need." She explained.

Brock looked at her in a judgemental manner, "You mean, you're not just going to buy the clothes – already made?"

She rolled her eyes, "You do realise I make my own clothes, right?"

"Heh, yeah! Of course I did!"

Babs had already walked into the store, making her way into the fabric section, admiring the diversity of materials on show. She browsed the plainest of whites and blacks to the most vivid violets and turquoise, however, it ultimately depended on Cherry.

"Come on out Cherry!"

The pink Delcatty landed with style; her eyes immediately widened at the selection of fabrics. Babs had never been so thrilled, "Isn't this great?! We're going to pick out the most fabulous clothing for you!"

"Catty!"

A figure approached them, turning out to be Brock. He had a bouquet of robes in his hand, "Will any of these do?" He asked hopefully.

After a quick look, Babs shook her head, "No, maybe you should leave this to us." She suggested.

Knowing he would not be of any help, Brock laid the robes down and decided to stroll around the shop. He was mentally sighing to himself; he was not enjoying a minute of this outing. All he really wanted was to get to know Babs better, since the crush he developed on her had not left him. Brock was a very easily seduced man – a weakness. However, the shopping area was much too crowded for any chance of conversation with Babs, let alone small talk, and she seemed much more interested in finding materials for her Delcatty.

Finding an empty wall, he leaned, still able to see Babs in the distance. Not far behind him were Team Rocket. They also seemed to be looking for clothes, specifically Jessie. She was almost digging through the outfits, sternly judging each one.

"No. Nope. Ew. Definitely not…ah ha!"

James barely caught the item of clothing she flung at him.

"Show me how it looks!" She ordered joyfully, clasping her hands.

James held the outfit in front of Wobbuffet, who looked down at it curiously. It was a charming toy soldier outfit, a bright red with gold highlights where it was suited.

"And the finishing touch!" Jessie beamed, whipping out a tall, black bearskin hat. She took the outfit off James and had dressed up Wobbuffet in three seconds flat, posing next to him, "Don't we look cute!"

The woman herself was wearing a fancy orange dress that puffed out, along with circular orange glasses. Her hair had also been tied into pigtails with yellow ribbons. Meowth looked them over, getting a mixed vibe, "Yeeeeah it could work." He commented with a shrug.

James was bored out of his mind, "Sure, it's great, so can we leave now?"

Satisfied with her choice, Jessie nodded, "This is perfect, we're sure win the contest!"

The team of three left without being detected by Brock, who had spaced out thinking about Babs.

* * *

"So, you ready for this?" Sparrow asked as she and Ash headed towards the gym after receiving directions from an elderly couple of citizens.

The trainer blinked at his friend before nodding determinedly. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Pika pika." Ash's first Pokemon seemed just as confident as his trainer, prepared for the challenge ahead.

"Well, it's just that you've said it yourself; Roxanne is a strong trainer. Although the league back in Petalburg Town was just a beginner's league, it must have attracted some powerful trainers, right?"

Unsure where she was getting at, Ash shrugged and decided to just agree with her. "Ri-i-ight…''

"None of those trainers were allowed into the forest, yet Roxanne was. She must be more than just a gym leader; she must be… woah…"

The duo and their Pokemon had just reached the gym, staring at it in awe. Not as large as the Devon corp., yet towering before them. The building looked over a thousand years old – amazingly ancient. The exterior was layered with old rock, defined with rich mud. As they walked down, they saw many pillars of gravel, exciting Ash, "This place looks so…"

"Stony?"

He laughed at her remark, "Yeah! You said it!"

Sparrow pushed the door open, flinching at the echoed creak it produced. Ash followed Sparrow in, immediately feeling a little isolated. The place was hollow, and echoed every noise made – like a cave. At the very end on the gym, there was a enormous structure of a prehistoric Pokemon, strongly resembling that of a Tyrantrum; beneath the artefact was Roxanne, who looked delighted at their arrival.

"Ash, Sparrow! I've been waiting for you two, please come in." Roxanne said, before pausing, "Before you came I ran into a previous student of mine this morning and I asked if she would like to watch the battle. I hope you don't mind."

"Oh, that's okay!" Ash responded. "She can be another witness to our awesome victory." Pikachu's cheeks crackled with electricity, agreeing with Ash.

Treecko couldn't help but feel embarrassed at how confident they were, despite the fact that they were in for a challenge. "Tree…" he murmured after a small sigh.

Sparrow, with Treecko perched on her hat, climbed the stairs to sit in a row of seats where she saw a figure sitting at the far end. She had never been in a Pokemon gym before, as she had no reason be in one, but she noted that despite the prehistoric interior, the seats were arranged much like they would be in an auditorium. The trainer sat down next to girl, deciding to start a conversation, though her gaze was fixed on the battle rather than the stranger. "Hi, you've come to watch the battle?"

"Hm, I wish I hadn't. He's never going to win against Roxanne. He beat me at the Beginner's League – but I know it was only because my Numel was tired."

Sparrow's pupil sank into her forest green iris as she peered over to the person beside her – it was Stacey. Noticing, her rival turned around, giving her an artificial grin, "Oh, Sparrow. What a pleasant surprise."

Stacey was the last person she wanted to see, "Mmhm, yeah. Any reason you're here, exactly?" Sparrow inquired.

"Is it a crime to spend the day with your role model?"

Sparrow noticed she had acted quite hostile and felt the need to correct herself, "Sorry. I just…I didn't mean anything by it. Let's just see how this battle turns out." She responded, motioning towards Ash and Roxanne.

"I'm hoping it won't turn out well for him." She sneered.

Sparrow noticed that Stacey was still sour about her loss, quite like she was about hers, but she felt that she had already gotten over it.

* * *

Not even the massive weight of the bag could slow Babs down. Each stride seemed effortless and she approached the Contest Hall, with Brock once again trying to keep up. Cherry ran ahead, jumping around like a giddy child, "Del! Delcatty!"

Other Pokemon watched the Delcatty bouncing around, finding it immature – they stuck up their nose and turned away.

Crowds of people burst into the contest waiting room, rapidly filling the place with chatter and gossip. Babs walked up to the receptionist there, needing to sign up, "Hello, can I sign up for the contest please?"

The receptionist nodded politely, shifting her eyes down to a piece of paper, "You're lucky you got here now; you've just filled up the last spot in the ballot."

"What a relief!" Babs cried, hearing a collective moan from behind her. She turned, seeing many who were going to enter, but now could not, "…sorry?" She apologised half-heartedly.

They all left the building, giving Babs another dose of relief. Cherry was tapping her leg, eager to prepare for the contest.

"Hm? Oh, yes, let's get started!" Babs chimed, leading her Pokemon to the changing rooms.

Brock sat down, taking in the clash of different styles each person owned; it was giving him a headache. It struck him as odd that only sixteen people were going to be chosen to compete, yet so many people decided to turn up – already dressed. He was so lost in his thoughts that he did not notice that someone had sat next to him.

"You here for the contest?"

Brock tensed up, turning to his right. His shoulders relaxed once he saw the individual beside him, "Oh, nah. I'm just here with someone else." He explained with a chuckle, "I'm surprised at how many people showed up. Contests must be a big thing in Hoenn."

The black haired boy nodded, "You can say that. After all, there are many ribbons to collect."

"Ribbons?"

The boy nodded again, "Yeah. The more you have the better. They define your level of experience and skill as a contestant."

Brock scratched his chin, "Sounds quite like gym battles. But this must be much different – I've never been to a Pokemon Contest before."

His blue eyes shifted to Brock, questioning him, "You've never been to a contest before? Sorry to ask, but what region do you happen to be from?"

"Kanto."

"Ah, that explains it." He responded, "They're much more gym based over there, right?"

Brock smiled, "Yeah. I happen to be a Kanto gym leader myself."

"Really? Now that I look at you…are you Brock?"

Brock nodded, keeping the smile on his face.

He put out his hand, "Nice to meet you, I'm Orion."

Just as they finished their hand shake, a shadow emerged, causing them both to look up: it was Babs.

* * *

"Both sides will use two Pokemon," Roxanne announced now in a somewhat more formal voice, gesturing to herself and to Ash, "the Gym battle ends when two Pokemon on one side are unable to battle or the challenger forfeits. Are you ready?"

Ash pumped a fist in the air. "Yeah!" he exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Alright, let's begin."

Stacey shook her head, glaring at him. "He's going to get crushed," she murmured under her breath.

Sparrow sighed, wondering how somebody could be so sore. Dropping the subject, she decided to focus on the match, as Roxanne sent out a Pokemon. "Go, Geodude!"

"Geodude!"

Ash smirked, after having Brock as a travelling partner all the way through Kanto, he knew a lot about his opponent. "Alright, if you choose Geodude, I choose Mudkip!" The mud fish Pokemon leaped out of her pokeball, ready to assist.

Stacey sniffed, noting he had the advantage by choosing Mudkip. Sparrow predicted what she was thinking, and smiled smugly.

As happy to help as Mudkip was, after being glared down by Geodude, she was having second thoughts. She could barely whimper a feeble "m-mud" before Roxanne commanded Geodude for her first attack.

"Geodude, rollout!"

"Mudkip, dodge it!" Ash commanded, but Mudkip was stiff with fear as the Geodude approached her. "Kiiip!" she cried in pain as the Rock Pokemon rammed into her stomach. The mud fish Pokemon landed on her back, wincing.

Pikachu's ears flattened. "Chu…"

Ash gasped, having to strain himself from reaching out to her. "Mudkip, are you okay?"

"Mu-mud," Mudkip shakily got back to her feet, now in a fighting stance, "Mud!"

"Okay! Water gun!" A pool of water formed in Mudkip's cheeks, which she shot out at Geodude. The opponent managed to block most of the water with her gravelly palms, but spurts of water ambushed her face, paining her immensely as she held back shrieks.

Watching as Geodude struggled, Sparrow nodded at the effect. "Ash has the advantage, and it looks like Geodude's taking a lot of damage, even if it can block most of the attack."

"No need to state the obvious." Stacey said bluntly, as Sparrow had to bite her lip to hold back a mouthful of abuse.

"Geodude, are you alright?"

The opponent nodded, rising her arms in a mighty pose. "Geo!" she cried, thirsty for revenge.

Roxanne grinned, knowing that her trusty Geodude could take the blow.

"Tree," Treecko muttered admiringly, amazed by her defence. If only __he__ could be that powerful...

The blonde girl's eyes widened, as she expected the attack to do more damage. "Shouldn't Geodude be a bit more battered after that water gun?"

"Obviously Roxanne's Pokemon are trained to handle attacks they are weak to." Stacey scoffed. "And I wouldn't be surprised if that imbecile's Pokemon are under trained. Typical amateur trainer."

Sparrow opened her mouth to contradict her, but shut it after realising that Ash really had not been training Mudkip too much. She would have to speak to him about that so the mud fish Pokemon would not fall behind in training.

"Right, Geodude, tackle!"

Once again, the Geodude slammed her body into Mudkip, bruising her brutally. "Muuuuuuud!"

Mudkip fell face flat to the ground, and had trouble picking herself up. "Mud… mud…"

"Mudkip, return," Ash said, reaching for her pokeball, however Mudkip let out cries of persistence. Pikachu pushed down the pokéball as Ash lifted it up, shaking his head. "Do you still want to battle?" he asked her.

The mud fish Pokemon nodded as she regained footing, the room spinning around her becoming slightly more clear. "Kip!"

Initially, Ash frowned, but quickly covered his negative expression up with a determined smile. "Okay, Mudkip, I believe in you." His encouraging words were enough to give Mudkip energy, and her muscles tensed, ready for battle.

Stacey spluttered, despite this unladylike manner contrasting with her usual mature nature. "What a fool! Why motivate that Pokemon when it's about to faint? He needs to face the reality."

"I believe in Mudkip too," Sparrow challenged, her gaze hardening.

"Look, Mudkip may have the advantage, but that means nothing. Roxanne's Geodude has outstanding defence and special defence, meaning that Mudkip will barely be able to lay a finger on her. Besides, Mudkip is on critical health. There's no way she'll last much longer."

Sparrow curled her lip. "Maybe Mudkip won't last the whole battle, but she'll do much better than you think."

"Geodude, finish this off with rollout!"

Mudkip glared at her opponent as she formed into a stony ball hurtling towards her. Ash, Pikachu and Sparrow were screaming at her to dodge, but she could not hear them now. A rhythm was echoing in her head, and she couldn't resist dancing to it.

"Huh?"

"Ko?"

"Pi?"

"Wha-?"

"Dude?"

"Eh?"

Everybody seemed shocked as Mudkip started performing some sort of tribal dance as her opponent stared in bewilderment. Roxanne suspected that this was a distraction, and commanded Geodude to continue her attack, but she couldn't withstand staring at the mud fish Pokemon, even if it mean ignoring her trainer. Mudkip finished the dance with an ear piercing cry towards the ceiling. All in the room were stunned to silence as rain clouds started forming in the air, drops of rain falling onto the battle field.

"Mudkip learned rain dance!" Ash exclaimed, astonished.

On cue, Stacey rolled her eyes. "What's a little rain going to do?"

Geodude blinked for a few seconds, but shook off her confusion and resumed the rollout. Mudkip, being an aquatic Pokemon, was not bothered by the rain, though the same could not be said for Geodude, missing the attack completely as the rain drizzled on her. Growling, she attempted another rollout, but rammed into a wall of the arena in a completely different direction.

Roxanne gasped, "Geodude?"

"The rain should boost the effect of water attacks during a battle," Sparrow mused aloud, "but it seems that Mudkip is using the rain to lower Geodude's accuracy!" Ash looked up to Sparrow, taking in the information.

Stacey clapped sarcastically. "Well done, Sparrow. Ten points for you." Sparrow sighed in annoyance, drawing her eyes back to the battle.

"Awesome, Mudkip!" Ash congratulated.

Pikachu waved his arms in excitement. "Pika Pikachu!"

Mudkip began to zip across the arena, and Geodude desperately trying to land a rollout, only to crash into many walls. After one particular crash, a giant dust cloud appeared, cloaking Geodude as she let out a cry. When it disappeared, the rock Pokemon lay on the ground, defeated.

Sparrow shot a smug look to Stacey. "You said that Mudkip wouldn't be able to lay a finger on Geodude, so Mudkip used trickery to get Geodude to hurt herself." She said, proud to have proven Stacey wrong.

"Okay, I admit it, Mudkip is a strong Pokemon. That doesn't mean Ash is a good trainer."

"We'll see about that," Sparrow dared with confidence.

Roxanne recalled Geodude, nodding at Ash. "My, your Mudkip seems to have much potential; I would have never thought of my Pokemon losing due to the weather. I'll have to look into that strategy, but for now, let's resume our battle. I choose you, Nosepass!"

The Gym Leader sent out a rock type Pokemon with a huge nose, and Ash immediately pulled out his pokedex. "Nosepass, the Compass Pokemon. Its magnetic nose consistently faces north. Travelers check Nosepass to get their bearings."

"Cool," Ash murmured, "So, can you still battle, Mudkip?"

"Kip!" Mudkip replied, getting into her battle stance.

Ash nodded. "You know what to do!" Mudkip began dashing across the arena, circling Nosepass, forming a water gun in her mouth. Nosepass did not move, silently observing her opponent. Puzzled, Mudkip halted to spurt the water gun as, but tripped on some of the rubble that Geodude had left behind.

"Kip…" Mudkip wept, unable to battle.

Ash recalled Mudkip, comforting her with words. "Take a good rest, Mudkip." Nodding at his partner, Pikachu took Mudkip's place. "I choose you, Pikachu!"

"Pika pika!"

"You can make the first move," Roxanne offered, "I'd like to see what move you choose first."

Ash, recalling how Mudkip's experience with Nosepass played out, planned a strategy in his head. It __had__ to work. "Right, Pikachu, tackle, now!"

The mouse Pokemon sped towards Nosepass, ramming into her at full speed. Nosepass was pushed back a few inches, but asides from that, the tackle seemed to have no effect. Pikachu stumbled backwards, wincing, as a sharp pain occurred in his head.

"Pikachu, are you alright?" Ash asked worriedly, concerned for the health of his friend. Stubbornly, Pikachu nodded, electricity crackling from his cheeks when he turned back to his opponent.

Roxanne nodded, but she did not have time for sympathy. "Nosepass, use rock tomb!"

Pikachu gasped as rocks hurtled before him, just barely escaping being pinned down by them, but clearly hurt by the jagged stones. "Pi..."

His trainer was reassured by a shaky nod from Pikachu, and shouted his next command. "Use tackle again!" Stacey, watching from above, shook her head in disapproval.

Once more, Pikachu barged into Nosepass, knocking her back a little, but her rough and solid skin resulted in hurting Pikachu more than it did to Nosepass.

"Ash!" Sparrow called. "Pikachu's head is too delicate to hurt a rock type, try a different part of the body. It's your only chance!"

The young trainer was unsure if this would work, but he decided it was for the best. However, before he could call out a command, the gym leader interrupted him. "Nosepass, aim a power gem attack directly at Pikachu."

Dazzling gemstones formed in the air, and bright, gleaming lasers shot out of them, aiming for the unlucky electric Pokemon. Startled, Pikachu was hit by the laser beams, leaving him staggering, barely able to stand.

"Pikachu!" Ash grit his teeth, controlling the urge to run into the arena and help him recover. He gulped, but he suddenly recalled what Sparrow had suggested. "Use tackle, but with your tail!"

Stacey raised a brow. "A tail tackle? What's that supposed to mean?" Like Stacey, Sparrow had her doubts, "When I said use a different part of the body, that's not exactly what I meant..." she murmured.

Gaining speed, Pikachu attempted one last tackle, this time, instead of colliding into Nosepass directly with his head, he spun around to use his tail. Suddenly, his tail flashed white, gained a steel-like texture, and crashed onto Nosepass' head. "No-o-o-o-se." The compass Pokemon, who had been silent until this moment, moaned.

"Huh?"

The gym leader chuckled weakly. "I can't say we've ever been in this situation before."

From the audience, Stacey observed the scene. "Pikachu used iron tail; not exactly a perfect one, either."

Pleased that he had dealt some damage to his opponent, Pikachu tried to retreat back to Ash – only his tail seemed to be attached to Nosepass! "Pikachu is stuck to Nosepass!" Ash muttered in disbelief.

"Of course!" Sparrow exclaimed. "Nosepass' ability is magnet pull, an ability that traps steel types. Since iron tail is a steel type move, it must have the same effect."

"So, he's trapped, huh?" Ash pondered this, an imaginary lightbulb lighting up above his head. "Pikachu, lean foward!"

"Chu!" With all of his strength, Pikachu pushed fowards, toppling over Nosepass. "No-se..." The rock head Pokemon shuddered. She tried to force herself up, but her weight kept her immobile - stuck on the ground, and unable to do any further battling.

Ash pumped his fist in the air. "Alright, we won!"

Pikachu jumped up in glee, so excited electricity bubbled from his cheeks.

"Roxanne's Nosepass is unable to battle, the victory goes to Ash from Pallet Town!" His friend applauded, her trusty Treecko clapping along with her.

Stacey's jaw dropped.

Roxanne chuckled as she retrieved Nosepass. "Well, Ash, you sure surprised me. It seems the teacher really can learn from the student." She turned to the large sculpture behind her, its towering gaze fixed on them. Her finger brushed against a switch on the grey underbelly of the Tyrantrum. Suddenly, the monument's chin lowered, an arrow-shaped brooch escaping from its mouth. In a lightning fast flick of her hand, she caught it, and presented it to Ash. "This is the Stone Badge; you've earned it."

"Yay! I've earned the Rustboro gym badge!" The trainer exclaimed, waving his badge

"Pi, Pikachu!"

Roxanne tapped her chin, signalling she wanted his attention. "Your unique strategies are worth looking into. With a little practise, you could strengthen them. Answer this question for me, Ash: have you ever considered becoming a Gym Leader?"

The trainer perked up at her question; though it wasn't his dream goal, the reason he had set out on this long, challenging journey, he was pleased to know that she thought that he had what it takes. "No, I'm going to become a Pokemon master, no matter what!"

Grinning, Roxanne nodded in silent agreement. "You do have the potential. I wish you the best of luck on your way!" All of a sudden, the towering doors creaked open, a bolt of light shining through the gap.

Ash beamed, his Pikachu dashing onto his shoulder, and ran towards the doors, waving the badge in a fist. "Watch out, Hoenn league, 'cuz this trainer will be the future Pokemon champion!"

The three girls alongside the wood gecko Pokemon glanced at his outburst in surprise as he ran off, the silence only being broken as Sparrow realised the situation. "Ash, wait for me!" A panicked trainer shouted as she sped out of the circular isle, clutching her hat desperately.

"Finally," Stacey muttered bitterly.

"Ko!" Sparrow's Pokemon called, revealing that he was not following and instead looking up at Roxanne in child-like admiration, his yellow eyes sparkling.

His trainer stopped in her tracks, turning back towards him. "What's up, Treecko?" Confused, she tried to read his face, stunned by his sudden interest in the Rustburo gym leader. The leader herself grinned, motioning towards her two pokeballs.

"Treecko must have been impressed with Geodude's and Nosepass' battling," she remarked, the jade Pokemon nodding at her comment. "If you're interested, Treecko is able to use a small selection of rock type moves too."

Intrigued, Sparrow examined the chirpy Treecko, pondering what other kinds of moves he could master. "Really? I suppose with Treecko's grass typing, he could have a variety of moves. So could he learn ground moves and others too?"

"You should have more faith in Roxanne; she knows what she's talking about. She is a gym leader, after all," Stacey cut in, though her tone was less hostile and sour, which Sparrow assumed was a result of Ash not being in the scene.

Roxanne gave Sparrow an apologetic look, while handing her an auburn disc with small writing engraved. "This is a TM on Rock Tomb," Roxanne explained, "TM stands for Technical Machine, being discs which contain information on certain moves to enable your Pokemon to learn it easily. Of course, they will have to learn the moves for themselves, while the TM will give a description on how your Pokemon can unlock the potential to use the move."  
Sparrow blinked after the brief lecture, glancing down at the CD to read the inscription, the light reflecting on it, manoeuvring around the letters: "Boulders are hurled at the target. This also lowers the target's speed by preventing it's movement. Silph Co. ™."

On instinct, Treecko reached to tap the strange disc, feeling something flicker inside him as he did. What w _ _as__ this feeling? Upon touching the TM, he felt a power surging through his blood, a feeling he had rarely felt, only during intense battles. He felt… more powerful.

As Sparrow continuously thanked the Gym Leader, Treecko leaped back on her hat, posing to show his new-found strength, Stacey smirking. "You too better work on that move, so the next time we battle, you may actually be a challenge." With that, she turned her heel and paced out of the room, her steps echoing in the ancient, huge hall.

 _"_ _ _Still?"__ The trainer thought, smiling awkwardly, unsure how to interpret the statement. _"_ _ _Wait, aren't I forgetting something..?"__

"...ASH!" Sparrow called as she sprinted out of the gym, speeding through Rustboro in search of her friend, now equipped with his first Hoenn badge.

* * *

"Hey, Pokefans! Welcome to the contest spectacular!" The voice of the local Nurse Joy chirped, standing under the dazzling spotlight of the stage as the crowds grew wild, applauding her as she waved at the cameras. "Today's contest will be suited for the beginner's league, and our contestants will be competing to earn the Rustboro ribbon!" She exclaimed, gesturing towards the small pink Pokemon beside her, presenting a cerulean ribbon to the audience, squeaking a "mime" as it imitated Joy's pose. "The judges today will be Mr. Contesta, Mr. Sukziko and I!"

"Contestants will compete in two rounds, the performance stage and the battle stage! The performance stage is for Pokemon to show off their moves and gain the highest scores from the judges, so two Pokemon can perform in the round for any combo moves! The battle stage tests the coordinator's skills to decrease the opponent's points through 'battling' using one Pokemon!"

The screams of the crowd echoed through the building, being so loud that even the performers could hear them in the contestant's room, watching intently on a wide-screen TV attached to the wall. Babs' lips curled into a smile as she looked down at Cherry, checking that every strand of fur was in place underneath her costume. "Don't you think that ribbon will look so pretty on my Cherry?"

Zoning out, Brock gave an uninterested nod, "Maybe, but Nurse Joy definitely looks pretty…"

Being surrounded by respectable trainers, Babs was careful not to make a scene and settled for an angered growl, snapping Brock out of his daze. "Yep, it would look beautiful," he exaggerated, scratching his tousled hair in an apologetic fashion.

The girl sniffed in annoyance, her eyes scanning the outfit the Delcatty was dressed in, her gaze suddenly softening slightly. "Sure, but seriously, what do you think of it?"

Brock stopped to actually look at the outfit, realising that he had not paid it much attention when he echoed Babs' praises. It was certainly something to marvel at, but with all of the other costumes displayed in the room, giving Brock the vibe that he was part of a Pokemon fashion show, it could have it's competition. Despite his concerns, he ignored the other outfits and focused only on the impressive one that Babs had created. "It looks amazing," he expressed genuinely, keeping it brief due to his limited fashion knowledge.

"And you don't have any criticisms for it?"

"Uh, no?"

Her gaze reverted back to Cherry, leaving Brock with a panicked feeling that she assumed that he was lying, before she spoke again. "Okay, but if you ever notice a flaw in my future designs you tell me, because me and Cherry __have__ to win these. Not that I have any doubts, right, Cherry?"

The feline Pokemon mewed her approval, resisting the urge to skip around in her new clothing.

Brock beamed at her nicer tone, putting a fist to his chest. "Of course!"

In a corner of the room, Team Rocket were seated, unusually not eavesdropping on the conversation of the two, as Jessie had determined on participating in the contest herself, wearing the orange dress and decorative glasses she had picked out earlier, while James had disguised himself as a normal citizen, wearing casual clothes with his blue hair hidden in a brown cap. Meowth simply acted as a normal Pokemon, since their bank account would crumble at the sight of another disguise after Jessie's shopping spree.

Stroking her magenta hair, Jessie gazed down at her dress. "Think of it; the name Jessilina will flash by on every screen in Hoenn, no, the world!" she exclaimed eagerly, adopting this new persona.

Meowth weakly smiled at her confidence, while contrarily, James' eyes were glued to the TV. "Don't you think Nurse Joy's Pokemon is so cute?"

The scratch cat Pokemon grinned in amusement, "Yeah, whatever you say pal. Why don't you go play with your bottle caps or somethin'?" he teased amiably, forced to lower his voice to not attract unwanted attention.

Wobbuffet looked up at Jessie, proudly showing off his sailor outfit. "Aren't you a darling!" Jessie praised.

"Wobba!"

Blinking, Meowth bit his lip in worry of the reaction his comment could have, "Jessie, you sure you wanna enter just Wobbuffet? Sure, his moves are flashy, but none of dem do much outside of makin' him look sparkly."

Jessie smirked deviously, pulling an outfit out of one of the many bags she had brought. "That's why you're entering too, since we can use two Pokemon at once. Why else would you think I bought this many outfits?"

Meowth choked back a scream of protest, covering his eyes with his paws as he groaned feebly. "I wish I could distract you with bottle caps too."

Laughing at her team member's pained reaction, she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Well, I think that lovely blue ribbon would distract me, and it would look pretty on you…" she began.

"Shut up!"

"Okay, I was just joking," She countered quickly, aware that Meowth's fury swipes could easily destroy her dress, "but if you help me earn that ribbon I'll be __really__ happy," she pleaded.

"I get the feeling that I don't have a choice in this."

"No," Jessie confirmed.

The feline sighed, grabbing the clothes that Jessie had picked out for him, "Fine, but I'm not wearing this ugly thing."

"That wasn't a choice either."

"Oh."

 **Back from the dead. I think it's safe to say this story will have a pretty spontaneous schedule. Anyhow, reviews are appreciated~**


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